A Brilliant Beyond Brilliant Idea - A Modern Rogue One AU
by Missfantasyland
Summary: Twins Emma and Sofia were separated at 4-months old by their parents, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, when they split up. 15 years later, and the girls happen to meet by complete chance at summer camp where they begin to devise a plan to switch places and try and reunite their estranged parents and get them back together after years of being apart.
1. A Prologue

Of course, it wasn't meant to last. They were far two young really, too in love to think that far ahead. It seemed as though even the world agreed with them on that day as grey clouds clogged up the sky and the smell of rain filled the air.

Jyn sighed as she pulled off her wedding ring.

"That's a bit pre-emptive, isn't it? I mean we're not even divorced yet." Came Cassian's voice from behind her. She turned around only to see him leaning up against the door frame.

Jyn shook her head. "Don't. Just don't."

She extended her hand out towards him. "You should probably take this back."

He stared at the wedding band she held between her finger tips before pushing himself off of the door frame and walking up to her. Cassian held out his hand and Jyn dropped it into his palm, her fingers slightly grazing his. She ignored the feeling it gave her and stepped back. Cassian moved the ring around in the palm of his hand, aimlessly staring at it. An unsettling silence had begun to form and hang over them as the very air between them became tense. The only thing that broke the silence in a moment that seemed to last days, was the sudden sound of a baby crying.

Jyn and Cassian's four-month old daughter, Emma, sat in a play pen in the corner of the living room. Jyn turned around and walked over to her, bending down to pick her up.

"Shh, shh. It's okay." She said in a hushed voice holding Emma close to her chest. Emma looked over Jyn's shoulder, her thumb mindlessly in her mouth. She glanced around the room staring at everything with wide eyes when her gaze happened to fall on Cassian who was still standing in the middle of the living room. Cassian made eye contact with his daughter. Although she looked like the spitting image of her mother, Emma had his dark, brown eyes. A feeling of pain hit him as he looked at her.

Emma started to become unsettled and she reached her hand out towards Cassian, making little gurgling noises as she did. Jyn turned around whilst she tried to settle Emma. "You should leave. Your flight probably leaves soon." She said in an almost bitter tone.

Cassian only looked at her, not saying anything. Instead of saying something he moved towards her and when he was close enough he lowered his head a little so he was face to face with Emma. Jyn looked away, staring purposefully at one of the walls.

"Hey," he said softly, reaching out to hold one of Emma's tiny hands. She grasped his finger, her other hand still in her mouth. "Now, you be good for your mom, okay?" Cassian had to stop talking for a second as he could feel the lump forming in his throat. "And know that I love you very, very much." He finished, kissing the top of her head and pulling his hand away from hers.

As he stood up straight he made eye contact with Jyn. Cassian was standing so close to her in that moment, all she did was look at him; look at those deep, brown eyes. That same intense feeling from before returned and for one fleeting moment she felt like she wanted to stop him from walking out of that door. Looking at those eyes, she felt like she could fall in love with all over again. _Could_.

But then he backed away and so did she. All the feelings of anger and pain once again clouded her mind and she broke her gaze with him, glancing at the floor. "Go." She whispered, not even looking in his direction.

Cassian turned away and walked into the hallway, doing his best to ignore Emma's muffled whimpers. In the hallway, a suitcase, a duffle bag and a babies' car seat were placed on the floor. Cassian bent down to make sure that the seatbelt on the car seat was secure. In the car seat itself sat Sofia, the twin sister of Emma, fast asleep. She was quietly sucking on her dummy, her blue embroidered blanket draped over her to keep her warm. Cassian smiled sadly at his daughter and finally stood up and gathered his things.

Jyn had already said her goodbyes; she knew that if she even so much at looked at Sofia now she would only be filled with a feeling of regret at the idea of letting Cassian take her daughter to another country on the other side of the Atlantic.

But this is what's best, isn't it? Instead of having her children grow up and watch their parents in an unhappy marriage, have them live separately. Even if it meant that Emma would never know her father and Sofia her mother. All of Jyn's mind was trying to convince her that this was the best thing to do.

Finally, she heard the front door open and then slam shut, leaving only herself and Emma behind.

 _'It's the right thing to do'_ were the words Jyn kept replaying in her mind over and over again. Even so, that didn't stop tears from forming in her eyes as she bought up her spare hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. She breathed in sharply as tears eventually pushed their way through her closed eyelids and a sob escaped her lips.

In that moment there were no words that could've stop her from crying.

* * *

About an hour later, at Heathrow Airport, Cassian sat in his seat on the practicality empty plane, waiting for it to take off.

Sofia was awake at this point and she sat on her father's lap, dummy in her mouth and playing with a paper cup on the pull-out table in front of them. She gave a tiny squeal of delight as she gripped the cup in her small hands. Despite the circumstances, Cassian couldn't help but smile. "What have you got there, eh?" He said softly, and Sofia gave another happy laugh.

Slightly moving his attention away from his daughter, Cassian looked out the plane window next to him and noticed that it had begun to rain outside. The droplets raced down the window and he started at them blankly. His mind began to wonder to Jyn who was still on the other side of London.

They shouldn't have got married; he was only 23 and she was even younger at 21, but he was young and very stupid and very madly in love. He knew that she felt the same way about him too which is why when he proposed out of the blue as they lay in bed one Sunday morning she said yes. Cassian supposed that there was something idealistic and hopeful about it, like the kind of romances you see in indie movies but if the past year and a half proved anything it showed that they were not ready to get married and in some ways, they weren't ready to have children either.

They hadn't even discussed the idea of having kids but of course they were young and stupid and madly in love so it never even crossed their minds that it could happen. This meant that when it did happen, it came as a complete shock to Cassian when he came home from work one day and Jyn just blurted out that she was pregnant, placing the positive pregnancy test in front of him. She had been upset because she assumed he'd be mad but once the shock wore off Cassian became ecstatic and excited and eventually so did she. It was an even bigger shock when they found out they were having twins. Not that Cassian didn't love his daughters, he loved them more than life itself and he knew that Jyn did too, that seemed to be the only thing they could agree on these days, but realistically they should have planned it out more carefully.

They should've waited longer to get married, waited longer to do everything.

But it was too late and once the honeymoon period moved past, they found themselves becoming more irritable and they began to argue more than they ever had before. And about stupid, little things too like dirty plates in the sink or whose turn it was to put the bins out, irrelevant stuff really. Both Jyn and Cassian figured that if they couldn't even agree on little things like that then how could they carry on living together? They grew apart, became more bitter towards each other and eventually they got trapped in this endless cycle of "I don't want to be the one to say it".

Jyn was the one who finally suggested divorce and after a year and a half of married and three years of being together they split up, agreeing to take one of the girls each. Splitting up the girls was probably one of the hardest things Cassian had ever had to do in his life but it was for the better. At least he hoped it was.

Cassian was finally drawn out of his deep thoughts as he felt the plane move and begin to take off. He looked out of the window as he watched London slip by and then finally disappear as the plane moved above the clouds.

So, this was him: he had divorced Jyn Erso and was now on a flight heading to New Mexico in the United States of America where he hoped to get a fresh start with his daughter Sofia.

He put on a brave face for her but on the inside, he was crumbling and in the silence of the plane Cassian sat, staring out the window as tears slowly began to fall down his face.


	2. 15 Years Later

**15 Years Later.**

Jyn sat in the car outside of Emma's school where the final bell of the day had just rung.

Kids poured out of the school's entrance and in the crowd Jyn finally spotted Emma, bounding down the front steps with an excited look on her face. Jyn smiled as she leaned over to open the car door so Emma could get in the front seat. After a quick shout goodbye to her friends, Emma closed the car door and Jyn pulled out of the school's lay-by and into traffic.

"So, I take it you had a good day at school then?" Jyn asked, referring to the huge smile that was spread across Emma's face.

"Yeah, it was alright," she replied with little enthusiasm but then suddenly changed her tone and determinedly started rummaging through her backpack. "Buuut, look what Mr Rook handed out to us in form today!" She finished as she triumphantly found what she was looking for. Emma proudly showed Jyn what she was holding.

Jyn took glance at what was in Emma's hand: it was another leaflet to Camp Redwood. She sighed before turning her eyes back to the road. "Oh, another leaflet to Camp Redwood," She said, faking excitement. "I just thought I'd let you know since you're here, yes I did see the other leaflet for Camp Redwood… that you put in the cereal box this morning." Jyn finished.

"You did? And?" Emma asked eagerly.

Emma had been begging Jyn for weeks to let her go to Camp Redwood ever since she found out about it from school and it's all Jyn had been hearing about. Most parents would jump at the chance to send their kids away for the summer but also unlike most parents Jyn actually enjoyed her daughter's company so she was reluctant to let her go. First of all, it was halfway across the world in Oregon in the US and secondly, it was for four weeks which was more than half of the summer Emma would be spending away. This wasn't exactly an idea that appealed to Jyn. Emma on the other hand was desperate to go, and she started leaving leaflets all over the house: in the car, on the bathroom mirror and, as of this morning, in a box of cornflakes.

Seeing Emma's expectant look on her features, Jyn shot her a questioning look. Emma's face fell.

"You said I could go." She said, shoulders drooping a little.

"I said we'll see." Jyn corrected, taking her eyes away from the road for a second to look at Emma.

"Yeah! That basically means 'yes' in parent speak." Emma said with determination.

"No, it means we'll see."

Emma let out a huff and turned away from her mum to look out of the car window, the streets of London passing by them. Not surprisingly, the traffic was typical for rush hour in London; people honking their horns and slow-moving cars.

Every now and then, when they were stuck on a red light, Jyn kept taking quick glances at Emma with a furrowed brow before finally asking: "Why do you want to go to summer camp anyway?"

"Try because it's fun! And it's a new experience, there's loads of activities there. Also! It looks good on your CV and university applications because it shows you have teamwork skills and a willingness to try new things." Emma stated in a matter of fact way.

Jyn raised her eyebrows in amusement. It was obvious to her that Emma had been planning this one out for a while in order to argue her case. "Oh really? Who told you that?"

"Mr Rook."

"Of course he did." Jyn chuckled a little. Bodhi Rook was a friend of Jyn's who also happened to be Emma's English teacher and form tutor. Bodhi was one of those teachers who was more like a friend to the kids rather than a teacher. Emma had certainly come home with some amusing stories involving Bodhi on more than one occasion and Jyn often relayed them back to him. It was usually the source of a good laugh and Bodhi was a really good friend but in that moment Jyn silently cursed at him. 'I might just have to hit him next time I see him.' She thought to herself.

Emma let out another sigh. "C'mon, mum. Please. I won't ask do anything else this summer. We don't even have to go on our camping trip to Eastbourne. Can I go? Just this once?" She asked earnestly.

Jyn took a long look at Emma as rested her arm on the car door, her hand supporting her chin. There Emma sat in the passenger seat with a pleading look in her wide eyes, a look that was similar to Chewie's look when he begged for scraps from the dinner table. Everything about Emma's appearance resembled Jyn, right down to the determined personality. But her eyes, her eyes were his; a deep brown colour that almost resembled copper.

She breathed in deeply before lifting her head off her chin. "Okay," She started and Emma leaned forward with baited breath. "We'll take a look at it when we get back home."

Emma exploded with excitement. "Yes! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She said wildly as she tried to lean forward to hug her mum.

Jyn jerked back. "Watch out, Em! I'm driving!" She said through laughter.

"Oh, sorry." Emma retracted and she sat back in her seat, putting her hands in her lap.

"Love you, mum." She piped up and Jyn gave her a warm smile.

"Love you too."

* * *

"What about this one? It looks nice, there's a lake and everything."

Cassian sat hunched over a laptop, scrolling through the web page. "Camp Redwood, Oregon. That's not that far." He called over his shoulder to his daughter, Sofia, who sat at the dinner table doing her school work.

Leia walked passed and quickly glanced at the screen. "Oh, I've heard of that one. They shot some movie there back in the 80's."

Sofia didn't even look up to face the pair. "Really? Wow." She said unenthusiastically.

Cassian turned around to fully face Sofia. "Hey c'mon! Don't be like that. Who knows, you might have fun there. And, there's still time to sign you up before summer starts."

"I don't even know why you want me to go to summer camp anyway." Sofia replied, this time looking up at her dad.

Ever since the beginning of the year her dad had practically been talking non-stop about Sofia going to summer camp and Sofia was less than interested. It's not that she didn't like the idea of camping or being away from home but it was just the idea of summer camp that didn't appeal to her. In her mind all it was, was sitting around a camp fire and singing songs, something that she could easily do at home and would have much better time doing so if she was with her dad.

Sofia was kind of like a recluse. Of course, she had friends and she loved hanging out with Leia, but for the most part she was a quiet and soft-spoken girl which is why Cassian was so dead set on sending her away for the summer, try and coax her out of her shell so to speak.

"Summer camp is good character building. There's loads of stuff to do there and who knows? You might even make new friends." Cassian continued but Sofia still didn't look convinced.

"Summer camp really isn't that bad, Sofe. I went when I was a kid." Leia said as she walked round the table to reassuringly place a hand on Sofia's shoulder. Leia was usually very supportive like that. She was an old friend of Cassian's, the first person he met when he moved to California fifteen years ago. He hadn't yet got a place to live and Leia, being the helping person that she is, offered him a place to stay.

"Exactly!" Cassian exclaimed, agreeing with Leia.

Sofia glanced back down at her homework, pencil in hand, her face in a thoughtful expression.

In a quieter tone, Cassian spoke again whilst moving his head down slightly. "Are you sure you don't want me to sign you up?"

Sofia made eye contact with her dad and was met with a warm, encouraging look. She knew that he only wanted what was best for her and usually he had a good sense of judgement so Sofia played around with the idea in her mind for a little longer.

From the pictures she could see on the website the lake did look peaceful; the sun was shining in the picture and the sunlight turned the lake a rich, turquoise blue colour, the forests surrounding it a deep green and the cabins the colour of rustic, golden oak. Also, she had never been to Oregon before so she could kind of consider it to be like an adventure of sorts. Maybe it would be fun after all…

"Okay," Sofia spoke up. "I guess it's only for four weeks, right?"

A wide smile spread across Cassian's face. "There you go! Now you're getting into it."

Sofia gave a weak smile and upon seeing it, Cassian leaned forward with an earnest look on his face. "Don't worry, Sofia. I'm sure you'll have a great time." He said softly and Sofia's smile became sincerer.

He was right, she probably would have great time. And although the activities would be fun and the people there nice, Sofia highly doubted that she would end up making any long impacting friends.

But who knows? Anything could happen while she was there.


	3. Welcome to Camp Redwood

Camp Redwood looked like the kind of place you'd find in a movie or a quaint little storybook. It wasn't an especially large camp, it was tucked away near a mountain in the south of Oregon, but it was beautiful. Everything looked exactly like it did in the pictures.

Lines of buses pulled into the camp, filled with cheering and waving kids. Camp leaders and staff waved back just as eagerly with huge smiles on their faces. Loads more kids pooled around the main entrance, some saying goodbye to their parents, others running up to one another and embracing each other in big hugs, having not seen each for a year. People filed off the buses and staff loaded luggage off them, chucking bags and cases into big piles. The atmosphere was cheerful and Emma loved it.

The cab drove into the camp and Emma looked out the window with wide eyes. She practically flung the door off its hinges and jumped out, taking in every aspect of the camp. An older woman with greying hair and a kind smile Emma assumed was the camp's manager stood on a small box speaking into a megaphone.

"Welcome campers!" She trilled. "My name is Jenny, your camp's director and welcome to Camp Redwood. Now don't forget to quickly grab your belongings, we have a big day ahead of us!"

Emma turned full circle. "Isn't it great?" She turned to Han, who had stepped out of the other side of the cab.

He looked around a little before shrugging. "It's smaller than I thought it would be," Han walked round the cab to Emma, taking off his sunglasses. "We came all the way from London for this?" Emma knew he was joking but she shot him a look anyway.

Han put his hands up slightly and laughed, "I'm kidding." He said with raised eyebrows. Emma smiled.

Although she wished her mum had been able to come with her to say goodbye she was just as much okay with having Han there instead. Her mum had something come up with her work so she had entrusted Han to get Emma to Oregon in one piece and to his credit he had (which Jyn would probably react to with fake shock later when Han got back to London).

Emma loved Han, after all he did live with them so she supposed she had to. But even if he didn't she'd still like him anyway. He was like the uncle she'd never had since Jyn was an only child. Her mum and Han were basically like brother and sister.

Jyn and Han met at university and were in the same halls of residence for their first year; they ended up sticking around with each other after that. Emma recalled the many stories her mum and Han had told her over the years about their uni days and they were hilarious: like the one in which they had drank a little too much one night and ended up stumbling into a karaoke bar where somehow, they managed to get the whole bar singing 'Don't You Forget About Me'. Emma was told it was a great night.

Stories like that never came in short supply in Emma's home which was one of the best things about having Han live with them. He had come to stay while he was looking for a permanent place to live but Jyn and Emma liked having him around and he enjoyed their company in return so he ended up staying. And as it turns out, Han was actually also decent at cooking, way better than Jyn ever was who had been known to burn even toast to a crisp on multiple occasions, so he kind of became a live-in cook for the Erso's by default.

Han also had a dog; a great big brown Newfoundland called Chewie who Jyn and Emma adored. Emma was currently in the process of teaching him how to actually bring the toy back when playing fetch since every time Emma tried to get it back he would just run off with it, much to Han's amusement.

" _Good look trying to get that back_." He'd say sarcastically when he'd find Emma struggling to keep up with Chewie due to his size, chasing him around the back garden. She'd scowl but then end up in a fit of laughter herself.

Chewie really was a huge dog. He was so huge in fact that he had to sit in the front seat of Han's car because there was more room in the front. Han joked that Chewie was his co-driver and even though Emma thought this was funny, it meant that Jyn and Emma had to sit in the back seat, all cramped up. Not that Jyn _chose_ to go in Han's car. She much rather prefer to use her own as it was, in her words, more reliable. Well, she wasn't exactly wrong there. Han's car was a red and white old car from the 70's he called the 'Falcon'.

' _All the best cars have names._ ' He had told Emma when she once asked why his car was called the Falcon. The car was like his child and he treated it as much. When anyone said something bad about it he'd instantly jump in to defend it. This was something he had to do a lot since the Falcon received a lot criticism; it had been called ' _a piece of junk_ ' or ' _garbage_ ' on multiple occasions but Han loved it all the same. Sometimes, when Han had to drop Emma off at school, she'd catch him talking to it and this somewhat amused her. She didn't think she'd ever seen someone love their car as much as Han loved the Falcon and although it was beat up and it broke down… A lot, Emma had developed a soft spot for it.

"Hey! Stop daydreaming and come help me."

Emma was suddenly snapped out her thoughts when she saw Han had begun to unload the back of the cab and she went over to help him, grabbing her duffel bag.

"Right, are you sure you've got everything?" Han asked, placing Emma's suitcase next to her and closing the cab's boot.

Emma paused for a second. "Yes! At least I think so."

Han raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Okay, if you say so. But know that if you've forgotten anything I'm not coming back to drop it off."

"Hahaha." Emma faked laugh.

Han gave Emma a chuckle. "Oh! I almost forgot," He said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a small box. "Here you go. A gift, from me."

Emma took the gift out his hands; it was a pack of playing cards. She smiled as she held the cards and instantly knew that they were intended to play poker. Han had taught her to play poker when she was eight and ever since then they had played it together. Han was extremely skilled at the game, in fact it was how he got his car. Emma had heard the story of how Han won the Falcon by a stroke of luck during a poker game countless times. Emma wasn't as good as Han was but he said she had a natural talent for playing card games, even beating him a few times.

"Who knows? Maybe there's someone at this camp who could annihilate you at poker." Han said.

"Somehow I doubt that but thank you. And thanks for bringing me here, Han."

Han sighed and bent down to put his hands on Emma's shoulders. "Listen, if you want to come home we're only a phone call away." He said gently.

"I'll be fine. Really."

"I know you will, kid." And he gave Emma a quick hug. Emma hugged him back before he stood up and walked to the door of the cab's passenger seat. Emma waved and he gave her a two-finger salute before getting in the cab. It pulled out of the camp, leaving Emma alone. She gathered up her things and made her way towards a group of kids so she could find out what cabin she'd be in.

She couldn't wait to get started.

* * *

Sofia stepped off one off the buses holding the straps of her backpack, pulling it closer to her.

At first, she was a little overwhelmed by everything but soon brightened up. Ever since she agreed to going to Camp Redwood she'd started to warm up to the idea more and more and by the time her dad said goodbye to her at the airport she was excited to get there and get stuck in. It certainly lived up to her expectations anyway; the camp was surrounded by tall, evergreen trees and the sunlight filtered through them creating an almost mystical atmosphere. She couldn't wait to get a look at the lake.

Sofia did a sweeping glance around the entrance, looking for her duffel bag. She then spotted a camp worker carrying it on their shoulder and she jumped down the steps of the bus to try and catch up with them before they-

 _Crap_.

A huge groan escaped Sofia's lips as her duffel was chucked into a huge pile and instantly had what seemed like fifty more duffel bags poured on top of it. She sighed and then bit her lip in thought as she tried to figure out the most logical way to get her bag out of pile. After staring at it for a few moments she suddenly jerked forward, grabbed the strap and started pulling aggressively.

Okay, maybe this wasn't the most effective method but it was certainly helping her take out her frustrations. Sofia scrunched up face as she yanked on the strap but it was useless, the bag was buried in the pile good.

"C'mon!" Sofia muttered under her breath but the bag still wouldn't budge. She groaned again. "Ugh, _cosa estúpida."_

 _"_ Um, do you need some help?" A voice to her side said.

Sofia stopped pulling at the bag strap and turned to her right. She was met with the sight of a girl looking at her questionably, a red duffel bag draped over her shoulder. She seemed to know the secret to getting the bags out of the pile so Sofia breathed outward heavily and gave the girl a sheepish smile.

"Kind of, yeah. My duffel bag is stuck."

The girl laughed. "I can see that. Here, let me get that for you." And with that, the girl proceeded to drop her luggage to the floor and with one effortless pull of the strap, Sofia's duffel bag came sliding out of the pile.

"Here you go," The girl said as she held it out to Sofia and she tentatively reached out to take it. "When you've been coming here as long as I have you soon learn how to get your bags out of the pile." She chuckled.

Sofia gave a small smile. "So you've been here before?" She asked.

"Yep. Every summer since I was ten."

This girl seemed nice enough. She looked about the same age as Sofia with olive coloured skin, ebony black hair and green eyes. She held out her hand to Sofia.

"Name's Jess. Jess Parker."

Sofia reached out and shook Jess' hand. "Sofia Andor."

"Nice to meet you, Sofia," Jess grinned. "Um, just a quick one, were you speaking Spanish for a second there?" She asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"Hm? Oh, that? Yeah, I'm Mexican. Well, my dad is, anyway." Sofia corrected herself.

"Ooh. So you came all the way from Mexico to summer camp?" Jess questioned.

"Oh, no, I live in California. Not too far away from Los Angeles actually. Hence my American accent. We live out in the country so we're close to the vineyard."

A confused look formed on Jess' face. "Vineyard?"

"Yeah, vineyard. It's where you grow grapes to make wine. That's what my dad does, he makes wine." Sofia smiled.

"Cool." Jess beamed.

Suddenly, Sofia's name could be heard through the crowds on a megaphone. "Andor, Sofia?" A camp leader called.

Sofia stuck her hand up. "Right here!"

"You're in cabin 'Grey Wolf."

"Hey, that's where I am!" Jess said enthusiastically, extending one of her arms. Sofia pulled her duffel bag over her shoulder and began to follow Jess to the Grey Wolf cabin.

"So, do you know how to play poker?" Sofia piped up as they walked, trying to make conversation.

"Nah, never played it before." Jess replied.

Sofia smiled inwardly as she hitched her bag strap further up her shoulder. She seemed to have attached herself to Jess already so perhaps she could teach her how to play like how Leia taught her. Or maybe there was someone else at the camp who could already play poker. In that moment Sofia guessed that if there was she'd have a hard time finding them, if there even was anyone else there could play poker.

But she highly doubted it.


	4. Like Looking in a Mirror

Emma had only been at summer camp for not even a week but she had already decided that she loved it. The activities were great fun and there was always something to do. It didn't hurt as well that every morning she woke up to the view of the glistening lake, the forests and mountains. England had its fair share of gorgeous scenery but Oregon was beautiful too.

The girls in her cabin that she had been assigned to (cabin Black Bear) were nice enough as well. One stand out exception was a girl called Violet who, like Emma, had come to Camp Redwood from England. She was outspoken and larger than life making her extremely fun to be around. Their beds were right next to each other in the cabin and like all the other girls in the room they'd both stayed up talking and stifling a lot of laughter endlessly on the first night. And since the camp was co-ed, Emma had also befriended Milo, an intuitive boy from Indiana. Herself and Violet had been put in the same group as him during the team building games that had taken place the second day of camp (he was extremely helpful in solving some of the more challenging tasks) There were other people that Emma had chatted to over the course of the few days she'd been there but she'd stuck by Violet and Milo for the majority the time.

Everything was going really well and when Emma walked into the mess hall that morning with Violet, she was practically glowing with joy. As they walked in they spotted Milo sitting at one of the benches and he signalled to them that he had saved them a spot near him. Emma grabbed a tray and joined the queue for breakfast, which lined up on both sides of the mess hall and gathered in the middle where the food was being served.

"Ugh, I don't understand how you can eat peanut butter on toast." Violet shuddered as she watched Emma reach for a plate.

"Hey, what did peanut butter ever do you?" Emma defended, jokingly bringing the plate close up to her face, pretending to stroke it. "Besides it's nice."

"No, it's not, it's disgusting." Violet replied and Emma let out a laugh, placing the toast on her tray.

She had finally reached the middle of the queue where the drinks were when the camp's director, Jenny, stepped in between her and some other girl in the other line.

"I'm so sorry girls but I just have to some of these delicious strawberries," She said, putting large scoops into a bowl. Jenny then turned to Emma, "Would you like some strawberries?"

Emma shook her head as she took a glass of apple juice. "Sorry, I can't. I'm allergic."

"Oh, well that's too bad," She said and she turned to the girl on the other side of her as Emma walked away.

The girl on the other side of Jenny happened to be Sofia, who had been queuing for breakfast with Jess. She was just in the midst of getting some milk for her cornflakes when Jenny came in. She had asked another girl if she wanted some strawberries before turning to her.

"How about you, dear, do you want some strawberries?"

"Oh, no, I can't. I'm allergic." Sofia smiled politely, about to leave to go sit down before Jenny looked at her with narrow eyes.

"Yes, allergic. You- you just told me that, how did you get over there?"

Sofia looked at the older women with a confused look before Jenny laughed it off and carried on scooping strawberries into her bowl.

"Sorry, it's the first week of camp. You'll have to excuse the old girl." She dismissed, waving her hand.

"Well, at least I'm not putting salt in the sugar shakers. I mean sugar in the salt shakers-"

Seeing that the camp leader was a tad preoccupied with her own thoughts, Sofia and Jess wisely moved away from the queue before Jenny could carry on speaking to them.

Although it was an odd experience and one that Sofia wasn't expecting, she shrugged it off as nothing and carried on with her breakfast.

But that wasn't the only odd thing that had happened to Sofia over the next few days. At dinner the next evening, she had forgotten to get her dessert so she went back up to the food tables where one of the staff members gave her a questionable look.

"More already? Weren't you up here not even 5 minutes ago?" One asked her.

Sofia shook her head uncertainly. "I- I haven't had any yet." She replied slowly, and the staff laughed but gave her dessert anyway.

And then the next day, when she was waiting with Jess to do some archery, a red-haired boy had come running up her, startling Sofia.

"Em, there you are I've been looking for you-" But then upon seeing Sofia's puzzled look he stopped and started blushing bright red; the colour almost matched his hair.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else." And before Sofia could respond he quickly walked off but after about six steps turned around with squinting eyes as though he was doing a double take but then shook his head and carried on walking. Jess let out a stifled laugh and Sofia shot her a look.

"What? It's funny."

Sofia rolled her eyes. "It's not."

She didn't know why but it seemed everyone was constantly mistaking her for someone else or it seemed as though they had seen her before when she knew she hadn't seen them. People she hadn't met waved at her and then stopped when they realised it was Sofia. She had no idea why this was happening but for the most part she just shrugged it off as nothing. Jess didn't make any comments so Sofia thought that maybe she was just other thinking it...

* * *

"Where have you been?" Emma said aloud as she saw Milo walking towards her and Violet, looking slightly sheepish.

"I was trying to find you guys and then accidentally went up to another girl who I thought was you."

"Haha, you idiot." Violet laughed as he sat down next to her.

"I thought it was Emma!" He protested, putting his hands up. "And to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if it was. She looked exactly like you."

Emma gave him a questionable look as Milo turned to her. " _Exactly_ like me? Yeah, right."

Milo let out a sigh as though he wanted to say more but didn't. After that he dropped the subject and didn't mention this other girl again for the rest of the week.

* * *

The second week of camp started off with even more warm weather, the sun shining brightly every single day.

While there were set activities throughout the week, the weekends were more for downtime and the kids got to do what they wanted to do. For Sofia, this meant trying to teach Jess how to play poker which hadn't been going too well. It was hard for Sofia to hold in her laughter as she watched Jess trying to figure out how to play. Jess insisted that it wasn't funny but Sofia knew it was.

So far, she'd been having a great time and she hadn't even done everything that there was to do at Camp Redwood so when the new week started she was looking forward to taking part in new activities.

"Ooo, look over there." Jess pointed at something in the distance, taking Sofia out of her thoughts. They had been walking to the mess hall to get a drink when Jess stopped them.

The sound of clashing swords could be heard and Sofia looked towards where Jess was pointing. On the green two people dressed in protective suits, one in a white and the other in white and green, were fencing with the activity being overseen enthusiastically by a camp staff member whose name tag read Eva. Her hair was tightly curled and she wore a huge smile. The person in the white and green uniform was winning with ease and with one swift lunge forwards, they knocked the other player to the ground. Sofia moved forward as the defeated opponent removed their protective gear, revealing a girl with long blonde hair.

"That's me out." She laughed and began to remove her fencing suit.

"Alright, excellent game!" Eva beamed. "Congratulations on another win to our so far undefeated champ all the way from London, England: Miss Emma Erso!" She said, holding the girls hand in the air.

"So, do we have any more challengers?" Eva asked but a silence fell amongst the kids surrounding the green. Whoever this girl was it seemed that people didn't want to go up against her in a fencing match.

"Oh, c'mon, guys! Let's not all be damsels in distress here."

"Sofia will do it!" Jess shouted suddenly.

Eva gave another big smile. "Excellent!"

Sofia whipped round with wide eyes. "What?! No, Jess, I- I can't."

"Sure, you can! You could easily beat her."

"But I've never even fenced before!"

Jess gave her a wicked smile. "Just remember to look straight and stick her with pointy end." And she gave Sofia a huge push onto the green, where at this point the other girl was high-fiving people on the other side.

Eva walked up to her. "And what's your name, hon?"

"Uh, Sofia Andor."

"And where're you from?"

"California."

"Okay, we have a new challenger from California, Sofia Andor!" And Sofia was met with an applause. She reluctantly put on the white protective suit and slipped on the mask. Somehow, she just knew that this was Jess' way of getting back at her for laughing at her poker skills. Sofia guessed she should've seen this coming.

When she had finally gotten the suit on, someone off the side of her handed her the sword and she got in line with the other girl, whose name was apparently Emma.

"Fences ready?" Eva asked. The girls both nodded and got into a beginning stance, or Sofia did her best to get into what she though was the proper beginning stance. Sofia managed to get a look to Jess who was standing to her right, trying to hold in large amounts of laughter.

 _'I'm actually going to kill her.'_ She thought to herself before turning her attention back to Emma.

Eva's voice filled the air. "En garde and – go!"

Emma immediately lunged forward at Sofia who did her best to block the attacks. She backed away quickly and almost fell over as she found herself backing off the green. She moved backwards rapidly, finding herself up against a tree where she swiftly moved to her right before Emma could get her and Emma's sword hit the spot where Sofia had just been standing. Emma swung and Sofia ducked, managing to gain her footing as she returned to her starting stance. Sofia kept moving backwards as Emma advanced, trying her best to actually fight back.

This girl was really putting up a fight despite the fact that she had clearly never fenced before. In some ways Emma pitied her as she stumbled around trying to hit her back but at the same time Emma wanted to win so she didn't back down.

As Emma speedily kept up with Sofia, she saw over Sofia's shoulder that they were about to collide with a group of younger campers but Emma didn't stop moving and the children quickly scrambled out of the way, laughing and screaming. She had noticed that everyone on the green had started to follow them and they were all running behind her, chanting and cheering them on. A crowd had begun to form around them and maybe it was due to the crowd's encouraging cheers, but Sofia suddenly jerked forward in an attempt to hit Emma, who stumbled back herself.

Sofia was giving it all she'd got and she started to fight back, carefully striking when possible. She seemed to be getting the hang of this and the two girls rotated around each other, deflecting hits until Emma felt a firmer ground underneath her feet. The girls had ended up on a decking that over looked the lake. The crowd stopped following them at the edge of the decking and watched in awe as Sofia had managed to corner Emma. Somehow, with a quick flick of her sword, Sofia disarmed Emma and before she could even process what was happening, Sofia moved forward and forcefully poked Emma square in the chest with her sword.

"Gotcha ya!" She shouted triumphantly but then gasped in surprise as suddenly, Emma fell backwards over the small fence lining the deck, and fell straight into the lake. The deck hadn't been that far above the water as it was placed above a shallow area, but Emma still got soaked all the same.

Immediately, Sofia chucked aside her sword and bent over the fence, reaching her hand out to Emma. "Oh my God! I am so sorry! Here, let me help you."

"No, let me help you!" And Emma yanked hard on Sofia's hand, pulling her into the lake with her.

Sofia let out a small screech as she too was engulfed in water. "What the hell did you do that for? I was trying to help you!" She spluttered.

"Help me?! You pushed me in!"

Furious, both girls went around the decking and trudged through the water back to shore where the cheering crowd had huge grins on their faces. Eva pushed her way through everyone, clapping as both Sofia and Emma removed their masks but refused to look at each other, standing back to back.

"Well, well, that was quite a show!" Eva chuckled as she moved towards the girls. "And it would seem that we have a new undefeated champion from California, Miss Sofia Andor!" She gestured largely to Sofia.

The crowd cheered and a slight smirk graced Sofia's face, happy that she had won. But then she remembered that she was soaking wet and her mood instantly turned sour again, remembering that this girl had dragged her into the lake.

What was that girl's problem? Pushing her into the lake like that? There was no way Emma was going to congratulate her.

"Okay, now go on girls, shake hands." Eva said and Emma sighed and Sofia rolled her eyes as they turned around to face each other for the first time...

Any sneering remarks that Sofia had planned to say were instantly forgotten about as she made eye contact with her opponent. They were the colour of copper, just like hers. In fact, almost everything about this girl was like her. Her eyes, her nose, everything; it was almost like looking in a mirror.

It seemed that Emma too was shocked by the striking similarities between them as she stared at Sofia with a bewildered look in her eyes. They even had the same colour hair; chestnut brown although Emma's was shorter at a just-below-the-shoulders length and Sofia's reaching the middle of her chest.

Emma tentatively reached her hand out and Sofia slowly took it in hers to shake. It was as if electricity passed through them at that very moment and both girls let out an audible gasp.

But then their hands fell away and Emma looked in any other direction she could, ignoring the intrigued whispers that were coming from the crowd and also Sofia, who was still looking at her.

"What's everyone looking at?" She asked, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Can't you see it?" Sofia said.

Emma shrugged. "See what?"

"The resemblance between us." Then Sofia paused for a moment as if something in her brain clicked. "You're the one people have been mistaking me for!"

A loud laugh escaped Emma's lips. "People were mistaking you. For me? Like that's happened a lot. We don't even look that similar. I mean, look at you." She finished, motioning her hands up and down towards Sofia.

Sofia's face scrunched up. "What do you mean 'look at me'?"

"Well, for starters, your eyes are pretty far apart, your ears are a little too small, and, ugh, those split ends," A few sniggers came from the crowd surrounding them. "Don't worry, I'm sure a nice haircut could sort that mess out." Emma finished bitterly. Some might've called her harsh but this girl did push her into a lake.

A scowl formed on Sofia's face as Emma finished her "comparisons" and she was about to retaliate when Jess stepped in.

"Want me to hit for you, Sofe?"

Emma held up her hand in Jess' face. "Hold on, I'm not quite finished. Do you want to know the real difference between us?"

It was supposed to be a rhetorical question but Sofia answered anyway. "What? I'm not a sore loser and you are? Or, I'm not as clumsy as you. Your pick." She jeered, referencing Emma's unfortunate fall into the lake.

"Hey, you listen here!" Emma advanced forward but was stopped when Eva immediately stepped in, holding out her arms to stop the girls from moving towards each other anymore.

"Okay, okay, girls I think it's time to break this little confrontation up. Sofia- I mean Emma, why don't you go over there?"

At this point Violet and Milo had caught up to Emma and were escorting her away from Sofia who still had that Jess girl at her side. As she walked away she shot a glaring look at Sofia who stared back with equal disgust.


	5. The Great Prank War

Word of Emma and Sofia's fencing match spread around the camp like wildfire and by Wednesday that same week their names became infamous round the camp; as did their rivalry and hostility towards each other.

Every morning at breakfast the two would greet each other with glaring looks from different sides of the mess hall, whispers of insults being spread from ear to ear and every evening at dinner the same, to be repeated day in day out.

The whispers eventually got talking and one morning Violet came up to Emma with a concerned look on her face.

"What's wrong with you?" Emma asked her as she sat down.

In a hushed voice, Violet leaned in. "Haven't you heard? People have been saying that Sofia is planning to get her own back at you for pulling her into the lake."

"Wasn't pushing me in in the first place enough?" Emma said, sharply. She was still bitter at the fact that she ended up in the water soaked. "Besides, whatever she's planning on doing it can't be that bad."

"So, you're not even worried?" Milo piped up from his place next to Emma.

Emma shook her head, "No. I mean what can she even do that's not got going to get her into trouble?"

Violet shrugged and looked at her cereal. "I don't know but I'd be on the alert if I were you. Whatever it is she's planning on doing."

* * *

Sofia exchanged a few whispers with Jess at breakfast that morning while a few other kids gathered around her to hear.

It had been a few days since the fencing match and Sofia still wasn't happy. Usually she handled this kind of confrontation well but confrontation mixed with the embarrassment of falling into a lake wasn't a good combination so she felt obliged to make the score even between her and Emma; and she knew exactly how to do that.

Moving out of her chair, her and Jess, along with the others who had been listening, made their way over to Emma's table. Emma looked up at the figure approaching her and once she saw that it was Sofia she rolled her eyes.

"What do you want?" She huffed.

Sofia had a smile on her face, like the kind of smile people got when they knew something that no one else did. The very look alone filled Emma with annoyance.

"So, Emma. I've heard that you like to play poker."

Emma looked at Sofia with a confused look. It wasn't what she was expecting but she replied anyway. "You heard correct?"

Sofia's smile grew wider. "Great, because that gives me an idea. A way for us to settle things so to speak."

Emma exchanged quick side glances with Violet and Milo before speaking, "I'm listening."

Then Sofia sat down in the empty chair across from Emma. "Tonight, you and I will go head to head in game of poker, all bets on the table. And best player wins."

Emma looked at Sofia with a thoughtful expression. Was she being serious? She didn't exactly look like the kind of person who'd play poker but Emma was intrigued, not only by Sofia's apparent skills at playing card games but also at the idea of being able to say she'd beat her at something.

She breathed out and then after a moment spoke. "Okay, I'll bite. Tonight?"

"Tonight. In my cabin."

"Fine."

"Great."

And with that Sofia stood up and her and her little group started to walk away. Violet and Milo watched her go as Emma carried on eating her breakfast.

"See? I told you it wouldn't be that bad." Emma said, breaking the silence.

A game of poker? This should be easy.

* * *

Later that evening, after dinner, a crowd of girls had begun to form in cabin Grey Wolf as Sofia started to prepare for the match, shuffling the playing cards that Leia had gifted to her last Christmas. She knew that Leia probably wouldn't condone how she was using them but she carried on all the same.

She waited and waited and at one point she thought that Emma wasn't going to show up, much to her delight. Sofia would never let it down if Emma didn't show.

"Maybe she's too scared?" Jess spoke up. "I mean, if poker is as hard as it is when you tried to teach me there's no way I'd turn up."

"Yeah, but apparently she can actually play. And even if she does show up I doubt her skills will be that good. Taking her down will be easy." Sofia smirked and Jess raised her eyebrows worryingly.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes, the door to the cabin opened and Emma walked through the murmuring crowd, Violet following behind her (Because the boys and girl's cabins were separated, Milo had been unable to go with them but he wished Emma luck anyway).

"Ah, you're here. Didn't think you'd show." Sofia sneered.

Emma gave a fake smile. "Well, how could I miss the opportunity to play a game of poker? Deal me in." She demanded.

Sofia shuffled the cards and spread them out on the bed in front of her. "Take a seat. Erso."

Emma sat on the other side of the bed and pulled out a small bag from her jacket pocket. She opened it and poured its contents onto the mattress; a bunch of coins and notes fell out. Sofia did the same and then started dishing out the cards evenly between the two.

What ensued next was an hour of what was probably the most intense game of poker either of the girls had ever played. Each time new cards were drawn, the pile of money in the middle of the bed got bigger and bigger. Hushed whispers came from either side of the crowd each time they saw what cards Sofia and Emma had got. Both had to admit that this was not the same as when they played poker at home but both were also determined to win so the bets just got higher; with Emma putting in the most so far at $15. It might not have seen like a lot of money but there was more at stake than just losing a couple of cents as both Sofia and Emma were determined to win.

Sofia was surprised that Emma could actually play and vice versa. It wasn't exactly a secret that the two had very little faith in each other's abilities.

Emma tapped her cards thoughtfully as she looked at Sofia, in her head thinking of ways she could try and make the game more interesting. Suddenly, it hit her as she came up with perfect idea.

"Tell you what I'm going to do," She said, grabbing Sofia's attention and she glanced up from her cards. "I'll make you a deal. Loser has to jump into the lake after the game."

A few excited whispers came from the crowd surrounding them.

Sofia grinned. "Excellent."

" _But_ , they have to jump in naked. Like you said, all bets are on the table." Emma finished and the crowd got loud with encouraging whooping.

"Even more excellent." Sofia laughed and she reached $20 from out of her pocket and placed it into the pile; the highest bet made so far.

"Woah, Sofia, slow down. You might want to quit while you're ahead." Emma said, raising her eyebrows and holding up her free hand.

"Yeah, well you might quit while your behind. Start unzipping, Erso. Looks like your taking another trip back into the lake." And Sofia laid out all her cards on the bed and the crowd gasped. "Straight. In diamonds." She said with determination.

It was a good combination, she'd give her that, enough to let her win the game even. If only Emma didn't have a better deck of cards.

She was definitely going to enjoy this.

Emma feigned disbelief, acting like she'd lost and a triumphant look formed on Sofia's face.

"Wow, you're good, Andor," And Sofia's smile grew larger. Emma hung onto her words for a little longer to build anticipation and then slowly, said: "But, you're just not good enough." She smirked.

Instantly, Sofia's face dropped as she realised what was happening. Emma turned around her cards.

"In your honour, A royal flush."

The crowd clapped and cheered as Sofia lost the game. People cornered Emma as they patted her on the back and gave her excited smiles. A mortified look spread across Sofia's face and Emma laughed, lapping up her misfortune.

She had now officially one-upped Sofia and she couldn't have been more ecstatic.

Emma held onto that winning feeling as tight as she could as herself and the crowd trailed behind Sofia to the lake, holding torches to light their way. People laughed and giggled as Sofia walked shamefully in front of them.

They arrived at the small dock that was attached to the lake where Sofia stopped to take in a deep breath. Emma got everyone to turn around as Sofia undressed but when she had they turned back to watch her walk on the dock, closer to the edge.

People wolf-whistled and snickered as Sofia stood on the edge of the dock, her toes going over the end just slightly. She breathed in deeply, dreading what was about to happen.

Her arms across her chest, Sofia half turned around to look at Emma where she gave her a two-figured salute. Sofia returned the salute with pursed lips before turning back around and moving into a dive position. Without hesitating, she jumped into the water and everyone clapped, some screaming with surprise as they didn't think she'd actually do it; Emma being one of them.

When she went under, the crowd dispersed and Emma immediately ran up to the pile of Sofia's clothes that she'd left on the ground.

"Quick, grab her clothes!" She said to Violet and they grabbed an item each, just leaving behind her shoes. They ran away howling with laughter just as Sofia came up to the surface.

She managed to catch Emma running away as she came back up and when her head was fully above water, Sofia was met with no one. She sighed and swam to shore, then seeing that her clothes were missing. She wrapped her arms around herself in a pretty useless attempt to stop her from shivering. Anger boiled up inside her as she let out a loud gulp of air.

"Fine," She muttered to herself. "If that's how she wants it, then so be it."

And with the uttering of those words came with it the biggest prank war anyone at the camp had ever seen.

* * *

Some people, in fact a lot of people, might've called it childish for two teenage girls to get embroiled in a prank war. And they were probably right, but neither Sofia or Emma cared as they tried to outdo themselves each time a new prank got set up.

It all kicked off with Emma stealing Sofia's clothes after she jumped into the lake which was then followed by Sofia taking whipped cream from the mess hall and filling Emma's shoes with it. Not her best idea but she was angry so she went with the first thing that came to mind. The annoyed look that crowded Emma's face as she walked into the mess hall that morning pleased Sofia enough.

The camp leaders and staff didn't seem to notice what was going on and the ones who did just brushed it off as harmless fun. Despite the fact that it was immature, Sofia and Emma loved thinking of different ways to get one another back.

Sofia put whipped cream in Emma's shoes, Emma retaliated by finding a beetle and putting it in Sofia's jacket. Emma tied Sofia's shoe laces together whilst they were standing next to each other during an activity, Sofia put all of Emma's belongings onto the roof of her cabin. Emma put salt in Sofia's water bottle, Sofia fought back and TP'd Emma's cabin.

The toilet paper debacle really annoyed Emma as she was the one who had to clean it up when the camp leaders saw what had happened and even though she told them it wasn't her fault they still made her do it anyway. What's worse is that Sofia didn't even get into trouble for it either.

Emma yanked down a roll of toilet paper, putting it into a black bin bag. She huffed and an irked look remained on her face for the whole time she was cleaning up. Violet had offered to help.

They were about half-way done when Emma spoke up. "This is ridiculous. Why are we the one's clearing up _her_ mess?" She ranted.

Violet pursed her lips and shrugged, not even glancing at Emma. "You know, we could hit her back twice as hard for this."

Emma stopped grabbing at toilet roll and scrunched up her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we could come up with a bigger prank than teepeeing. One that might put a stop to her pranks." Violet said all of this nonchalantly but Emma stood still, staring.

"Like some sort of 'ultimate prank?" She questioned.

Violet turned to Emma and simpered. "Yeah. Exactly."

Emma chuckled. "So, what exactly did you have in mind?"

"It'd be messy." Violet warned.

Emma brushed this off immediately. At this point she was willing to do anything to take down Sofia. "I don't care. _Tell me._ "

* * *

The sound of a trumpet blared through the camp that morning, waking Sofia up.

Sofia begrudgingly opened her eyes groaning slightly, the sunlight filtering through the windows. She squinted as she became fully awake. When she opened her eyes, she was met with the familiar surroundings of her cabin, pieces of string hanging up from either ends of the room-

 _Wait. What?_

Sofia shot up as she began to fully take in the cabin. Hundreds of lines of string and rope were crisscrossed throughout the room and she looked around with wide, panicked eyes. Everyone else in cabin, including Jess, were still asleep and Sofia stripped the covers of her bed back, cautiously swinging her legs over the side and immediately almost lost her footing as she stood on something wet and slippery, something that felt like an oil of some kind.

She let out a loud yelp as she almost slipped and she instinctively grabbed one of the pieces of rope hanging from the ceiling to try and keep herself steady. This was a mistake however, as the rope gave way, releasing a trap above her that contained water balloons and about fifteen balloons fell from the ceiling at once all breaking at Sofia's feet, water splashing everywhere.

At this point, everyone in the cabin had woken up shrieking as water balloons dropped from the ceiling, some even being awoken by the balloons dropping on top of them and soaking them instantly. Others slipped up on the oil that was smothered on the floor at the foot of their beds and pulled on the ropes to hold themselves up but they were only greeted with more water balloons falling on top of them. That's what the ropes were for, they triggered traps built up in the beams of the cabin. And Sofia knew exactly who had set it up.

Emma, Violet and Milo gripped the edge of the window sill and peered into the cabin, watching as the chaos ensued inside.

Thanks to the genius idea by Violet, the technical aspects fulfilled by Milo and a special feature added by Emma, the three of them hung onto the ledge with huge grins on their faces as they watched every single person get soaked to the bone with water, all screaming and shouting. Emma kept a close eye on Sofia as she jumped up and down shrieking every time a water balloon hit the floor around her feet and Emma's giggles dissolved into full blown laughter at the sight. She had to admit that this was definitely lots of fun.

When the water balloons seemingly stopped Sofia grinned.

"She thought she'd get me." She muttered to herself. But that grin was immediately wiped from her face as a final water balloon rolled out of the trap above her, the largest one so far, and fell straight on top of her, leaving her completely drenched. Emma laughed the loudest out of the three when she saw Sofia with the look of shock on her face.

A growl escaped Sofia's lips and she felt like she could've imploded in that very moment then and there. "Emma Erso is the lowest form of human filth to have ever walked this planet!"

Having heard Sofia's shouts from the outside of the cabin, Emma took these insults in her stride and clasped her hands against her chest. "Oh, thank you! Please, do carry on." She said in a pitched voice, fluttering her eyelids. Violet and Milo practically doubled up in laughter.

"Morning campers!" A voice that Emma recognised as Jenny's, the camp's director, spoke up as she strolled past the three of them. The staff member who had ran the fencing activity, Eva, was there too, following Jenny's lead.

Emma, Violet and Milo leaned back from the window sill, cheerfully. "Morning Jenny!" They smiled back.

Then Emma realised who she had just said hello to. _Jenny!?_

She had been so wrapped in the glee of watching Sofia suffer the brunt force of her prank that she hadn't had time to process Jenny walking past them and before she knew it she was speaking into a megaphone.

"Surprise inspection!" Jenny announced to the camp sunnily, speaking into the megaphone and then turning to Sofia's cabin. "Grey Wolf!"

Panicked, Emma leaped off the ledge underneath the window sill and ran up the side steps to the cabin's door. Violet and Milo stayed put but ducked down so they couldn't be seen through the window. If Jenny walked in that cabin Emma would be done for; God knows how much trouble she'd be in. Her part of the prank hadn't even happened yet so she knew she had to do something and fast.

Right as Jenny reached for the doorknob, Emma jumped in front of her, holding out both her arms to stop Jenny and Eva from entering.

"Emma?" Jenny said surprisingly. "What are you doing?"

Emma stared back at her with wide eyes. She really should've thought this through more because she was at a loss for words.

"Um, you can't go in!" She said in a starting loud voice.

Jenny exchanged a confused look with Eva. "Why not?"

"Because! Because, uh, one of the girls got sick last night and it is a big, big mess in there." Not her best but she had to say something.

This seemed to have the opposite effect though and instead of turning away to inspect another cabin, Jenny handed her clipboard and megaphone to Eva as a concerned looked formed on her face. "Oh no. Well if someone is sick, dear then I must go in." And she reached out to take the door handle but Emma still didn't budge.

 _"Danmit! Why did you say someone was sick, you idiot? Now she definitely won't leave."_

Emma froze on the spot, clenching her teeth. "No! Seriously, you really don't want to go in there. It's _everywhere_ : it's all over the floor, the beds-"

At this point, Sofia had heard voices coming from outside her cabin and she looked out the window to see a frightened looking Emma blocking the door to stop Jenny from coming in. She scrunched up her eyebrows but then she happened to look up and saw a bucket of some kind hanging above the door. A wicked grin graced Sofia's face.

She opened the inner door of the cabin, much to the agitation of Emma.

"Actually, we're all fine in here. No one's sick at all, unless Emma Erso knows something that we don't know." Sofia shrugged innocently.

"No one asked you!" Emma snapped back at her.

Sofia faked concern. "Wow, Emma, you seem incredibly stressed for someone who has apparently done nothing wrong," Sofia turned her attention to Jenny. "Really, nothing's out of order in here. Why don't you open the door and see for yourself, Ma'am?"

"Stand aside, Emma." And Jenny pushed Emma out of the way to open the door and before Emma could stop it from happening, the bucked tipped over and vegetable oil poured out of it, all over Jenny. She screeched, clenching her eyes shut, trying to get out from underneath the bucket. She then slipped on the washing-up liquid that Emma had set out down the middle of the cabin's floor, the water that had splashed onto the floor from the balloons making it all soapy and extremely slippery. Jenny reached the end of the cabin with a loud crash and she tried to steady herself on a book shelf. She reached out to grab a rope; the final rope. The rope that turned the ceiling fans on.

"No!" Emma shouted, but it was too late and the fans started spinning, spewing bird seed in every direction. Most of it stuck to Jenny as she was covered in the vegetable oil.

Emma smacked her hand against her forehead, Sofia stared at the mess with a troubled look on her face, as did everyone else surrounding them.

"What have you done?" Sofia said, looking accusingly at Emma.

Emma's mouth hung wide open. "It's not my fault! She was the one who opened the door, I told her not to!"

"Right!" Jenny roared, shocking everyone into silence. "I have had enough with these stupid practical jokes!" And she pointed harshly towards Sofia and Emma.

"You! And you! Pack your bags!"


	6. The Picture

Emma and Sofia trudged up a large hill in seemingly the middle of nowhere. Both had a less than happy look on their face as they wandered behind Jenny who was marching in front of them, a hint of anger in every step she took.

She called it the 'Isolation Cabin', a cabin that was separate from the main camp and one that sat at the top of a very steep hill. No one had said a word to each other since they set off to the cabin that morning. A few deathly stares were exchanged between Sofia and Emma when Jenny picked them up from their original cabins but she made it very clear that not a single syllable was to be heard from either of them as they walked.

Emma hitched her duffel bag further up her shoulder as she huffed. Sofia stared at the floor as if the many twigs and small stones littered all over the pathway were the most interesting things ever. Both of them had been dreading the moment when they'd finally be left alone in the cabin as neither wanted to be cooped in there, stuck with each other; the idea of having to spend more than ten minutes in each other's presence was not one that appealed to either Emma or Sofia. Both let out a frustrated sigh at that very moment.

They had finally reached the cabin and Jenny came to a halting stop. She turned around to face the girls, a stormy look on her face.

"Now, I don't need to explain to you why you're here," She started. "When you are not doing scheduled activities, you will stay in this cabin. During your free time you will stay in this cabin. At breakfast, lunch and dinner you are to sit at a separate table and are not to talk to anyone else. As punishment for all the pranks you have carried out you will help the cooks clear away after lunch today. Is that understood?"

Sofia and Emma weakly looked in Jenny's direction. "Yes, Ma'am." They said together.

Jenny nodded. "Right, good. I will be back to collect you when lunch begins and know that if I hear a peep out of either of you I will strongly consider sending you both home. Now, go on, get settled. Maybe you can try and find a middle ground while you're at it." And with that Jenny left, walking through the middle of Sofia and Emma in the direction they came from, leaving them alone.

Emma's gaze held onto Jenny as she walked off and then she turned to face Sofia who only gave her a look of exasperation before turning around and walking up the many steps to the cabin. Emma followed her but no words were exchanged between the two.

* * *

A thick silence hung in the air as the girls unpacked their things.

Sofia got the bed on the right side of the cabin so Emma chucked her duffel down on the bed closet to the door. Still no one said anything. The silence could've been considered uncomfortable and awkward had it not been for the circumstance they were in; at this point Sofia would rather talk to literally anyone else than Emma. Heck, she could've had a full blow conversation with a brick wall and she still would've enjoyed it more than any conversation she could have with Emma.

Every action Sofia carried out she did with force. She tossed her clothes in the draws, she slammed the draws shut, any books she brought with her she threw onto her bedside table and then, when she was finished unpacking, she took out her phone and ear phones, chucked herself onto her bed and blocked out anyone and everyone (mainly Emma) by playing her music. The whole time, Emma looked up from her unpacking every now and then, mainly when Sofia slammed something onto a surface, but she remained calm.

Of course, she wasn't happy, in fact she was furious, but she knew that there would be no point in lashing out at anyone at this current moment in time; she didn't want to get into any more trouble than she already had so she kept her mouth shut. When she finished unpacking, she pulled out a book of her own from her suitcase and set it out on the bed, but she didn't actually read any of it. Instead she thought about the remaining weeks she had left at camp, where she'd be stuck in the isolation cabin with Sofia. She thought about home and her mind wondered to her mum. Would her mum have been mad at her for getting into so much trouble? It's not exactly like she was a saint herself when she was Emma's age but even so Emma wasn't so sure if she would agree with everything she'd done. She'd hate to think that she'd disappointed her mum.

Emma tried to block out any more negative thoughts and tried to focus on her book. She had a feeling that time would start to move a little more slowly.

* * *

At around half one in the afternoon, Jenny came knocking on the cabin's door to take Emma and Sofia to the mess hall where they ate their lunch. They were sat a small square table which was in the corner of the mess hall in silence, a sign that read 'Isolation Table' was pinned to the wall above it. After they'd eaten lunch under the watchful eye of Jenny, she then escorted them to the back room of the mess hall where they then spent the next two hours washing up every single piece of cutlery and all the dishes used during lunch; this task was also to be completed in silence as well. When they'd finished cleaning up Jenny took them back to their cabin. They didn't come out of it until dinner that evening where again, they sat in silence. To Emma it felt like she hadn't said a word in years and in some ways, she missed having someone to talk to.

The deafening silence continued all up until later that evening. It was late and the girls had been lying in bed but neither had gone to sleep. Then, to the complete shock of Emma, she finally heard Sofia's voice through the dimness of the cabin, the only light coming from a lamp outside the cabin's door.

"This is all your fault, you know." She said bitterly.

Emma rolled her eyes. "No one asked you to fight back."

"You stole my clothes after I jumped into the lake!" Sofia snapped back, shooting up to look at Emma.

"You put all my stuff on the roof of my cabin!"

"Well you! - you know what? I'm not even going to argue with you anymore. God, you're so... Stubborn!" Sofia finished with a glaring expression.

"And you're stuck-up! Look, we're stuck in here till the end of camp and there's nothing we can do about it so we might as well shut up and get on with it." And Emma lied back down onto her pillow.

There was a pause before she heard Sofia mutter under her breath. " _We_ wouldn't even be in here if it wasn't for your stupid water balloon prank."

Emma let out a loud sigh and at this point tried to block Sofia out as she kept on rambling. "I mean, what if they tell our parents? What then? What would your mom think? Your dad?"

And Emma froze. Her dad.

No one talked about Emma's dad, he was never mentioned at home. She'd never even met him which meant it was somewhat of a sore subject for her to talk about but there was no way she would ever confide in Sofia about this. Like she'd understand. By the sounds of it, it seemed like both her parents were still together and an uncontrollable feeling of jealousy took over her. She opened her mouth to correct Sofia, about to tell her how she didn't have a dad, but Sofia didn't stop talking.

"My dad would be _so_ mad at me if he found out how much trouble I was in right now. But did you stop to think about that? Like you'd even know what that's like," She didn't mean it like that, Emma knew that. How on earth could Sofia ever know about Emma's dad? She couldn't, but it still hurt all the same. A pained look formed on Emma's face and she closed her mouth, deciding against speaking up.

"Of course, you wouldn't think about how your actions affect everyone else because you don't have respect for anyone." And Sofia waited for a retaliation, for Emma to come back at her with a biting remark but it never came. Through the darkness she heard nothing except the sound of blankets rustling as Emma turned over in her bed so her back was facing Sofia.

Emma had no idea why Sofia's comments got to her so badly, it's not like she knew. Maybe it was the fact that she was tired or the fact that she had been on an emotional high all day but whatever it was she knew she couldn't take another second of Sofia belittling her so she rolled over and shut her eyes tight in an attempt to go to sleep.

Sofia lifted her head slightly to look at Emma; she was facing away from her in her bed.

"Emma?" She called out, but she didn't respond.

Sofia scrunched up her brow and for one fleeting moment she got the impression that somehow, she'd hurt Emma's feelings. She had no idea what had triggered Emma's sudden change in mood but Sofia decided that she wasn't going to spend another moment trying to get answers out of her so she lay back down on her bed and closed her eyes as well.

* * *

After the first night, the mood between the girls turned sour.

Emma, still reeling from Sofia's comments, avoided her as much as she could (which obviously turned out to be extremely difficult as they were both stuck in the same cabin) It mostly involved Emma blocking her out by sticking in her ear phones or flipping through a book.

Sofia, on the other hand, turned quieter over the next few days. It was as if she'd finally realised just how much her words had upset Emma. Usually she would be showering Sofia in insults and sarcastic remarks but she hadn't said a single word to her since that first night. Really it shouldn't have bothered Sofia this much, why should she care if someone she didn't like didn't talk to her? That's what she wanted. Right?

Sofia had no idea why it was bothering her but it's not as if she could talk to Emma about it. Emma didn't want to talk to her and Sofia couldn't blame her. They had both said things about each other before and they weren't afraid to throw insults but it was as though Sofia had crossed a line; she could feel it. What she said hadn't been about Emma, it had been about her family, her home life and really, she shouldn't have said anything because she didn't know anything about it. Sofia knew her dad wouldn't be pleased. The pranks he could've moved past but Sofia's comments, she knew that he wouldn't have condoned that kind of behaviour. But Sofia couldn't think of a way to apologise as in her mind she believed that if she so much as looked in Emma's direction she would brush her off and ignore her. She really was at a loss for words.

Eventually, the girls were allowed to leave their cabin to get drinks and food from the mess hall at different times throughout the day. They weren't allowed to hang around in there for long but at least it meant that they could get some time away from each other. It gave Emma a chance to leave when she felt like her emotions were about to boil over and when Emma left it allowed for Sofia to think about everything that had happened.

Emma liked being outdoors; it calmed her. Her and her mum would often take walks together in Hyde Park back home. Sometimes they'd take Chewie with them which was always good for a laugh when he tried to chase the birds and ducks down by the pond. When Emma was a lot younger, they always used to go to the playground that was there and the day would usually end with her mum getting them ice cream. Thinking about home now made Emma awfully home sick. She didn't usually get like this but she guessed the situation she was in with Sofia made her miss London even more.

She walked down the pathway that lead to the main camp, head down and her hands in her pockets. It was silent until Emma heard rustling in a bush a few inches in front of her. She cautiously stopped and walked closer towards it, brow scrunched up when suddenly, out of nowhere, Violet popped out from behind a tree.

Emma nearly jumped out of her own skin. "Jesus! Violet, what the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm coming to see you." She replied, pushing a branch out of her way and stepping over a log, walking onto the pathway.

"And all of _this_ is necessary?" Emma said pointedly, gesturing to Violet and referencing the fact she had just walked out of a bush when a perfectly good path was right behind her.

A thoughtful looked formed on Violet's face as she side glanced to the left. She then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you've got a point there," She said, as she removed a leaf from her hair. "But I had to come and see how you and your evil clone were getting on."

"Don't call her that," Emma sighed. "Besides it's fine. I'm fine."

"I'm surprised you two haven't bitten each other's heads off yet," Violet chuckled. "Has she said anything to you?"

Emma could've told Violet about what Sofia had said on the first night, about her dad but even Violet didn't know much about Emma's home life besides the fact that she lived with her mum and Han so she didn't mention it. Besides, Emma didn't want to cause more drama than there already was so she shook her head.

"No, she hasn't said anything." And Emma folded her arms across her chest.

"Ah, so you're giving each other the silent treatment? Good idea."

Emma let out a small laugh and Violet smiled as she paused for a moment. "Well, it's been nice knowing you Em." She said in an almost mournful tone.

Emma playfully hit her on the arm. "Oh, shut up, I'm not dying."

Violet raised her eyebrows. "You never know. You might end up ripping out each other's throats before camp is over."

"It's not like that. She's... quiet." Emma replied honestly, placing her arms back across her chest.

"For now." Violet said in a mock mysterious tone and Emma rolled her eyes, amused.

"But, seriously, I'll try and see you later. Okay? Oh, and Milo sends his good thoughts."

Emma let out another laugh. "Okay, Violet, whatever you say." And with that Violet started to back away into the bushes.

"Um, Vi?" Emma spoke up.

Violet turned around to face her. "What?"

"Maybe you'd want to go that way back to camp instead?" Emma said, pointing down the pathway.

"Oh, yeah, that might be a tad easier." And Violet started heading down the hill, turning around and giving a quick wave good bye. Emma returned the wave as she watched her go.

She didn't know exactly why she'd defended Sofia and denied she'd said anything to her. Of course, Emma still wasn't entirely okay with the things Sofia had said but it was getting easier to move past it. Maybe being cramped up in a small space together helped diffuse the tension after all.

* * *

That Sunday, it was if the heavens opened as rained poured out of the sky. It was the first rainfall that had occurred the entire time Sofia had been at camp and it certainly was a lot. Although the air was humid and warm, the clouds cast a dark light over Camp Redwood and the heavy rain added a hint of chilliness to the atmosphere. The pathways became soaked and muddy and the trees heavy with rain water.

Of course, weekends meant free time for everyone at the camp but for Sofia and Emma free time meant that they had to stay in the isolation cabin. Although they remained slightly bitter towards each other they didn't become hostile at any single point. The first days were rough but after having spent a few days in the same space, Emma and Sofia kind of got used to each to being around each other.

One evening for example, when Sofia was getting ready for bed, she reached down and plugged her phone in to charge. When she lay down she heard Emma's voice from across the room.

"That plugs not switched on, you know." Emma said, with a slight, if ever so forced, tone of mockery. Sofia sat up to look at Emma but she didn't even look back at her as she remained reading her book. Sofia reached down to switch the plug on, mumbling a quick, disgruntled 'thank you' before lying back down on her bed.

It was calm that day, as Sunday's at the camp usually were, and despite the rain pouring down outside her window, Sofia sat on her bed messing around with her playing cards. Emma was across the room pinning pictures up on the cork board near her bed and Sofia guessed she did this because she was missing home. At this point Sofia missed home too but she didn't dare try and make conversation with Emma about it.

The isolation cabin clearly hadn't been fixed up in a while as a bucket sat in the middle of the floor, catching rain water. The window closest to Emma was open too. It's not as if it couldn't be closed but it was far too much effort to actually close it and neither one of them could be bothered to do it so it was left untouched.

Emma glanced behind her as she watched Sofia sitting on her bed. She sat silently and this made the corner of Emma's mouth turned up slightly as she turned back to her cork board. Suddenly, the pictures started flying off the board and Emma was met with a sudden gust of cold wind. She ran over to the window and tried to close it but it wouldn't budge. She gripped it as hard as she could but to no avail. Sofia had shot up when she'd seen the pictures fly around the room and instinctively she jumped off her bed to try and help Emma close the window.

Sofia pushed the window from her side as Emma pulled. Sofia's face scrunched up as she used all her force to try and close the window. It would seem that the window didn't want to move and this frustrated Sofia. " _Dios mio_ , it's stuck!"

Finally, with one huge pull from Emma the window slammed shut and the wind ceased. Both girls breathed in and out heavily before looking at each other.

"Thank you." Emma said, sincerely.

Sofia, shocked by the sincerity in Emma's voice, gave her a small smile in return. "That's okay."

There was a pause in the air as the two girls looked at each other before Emma turned to look at the mess the wind had created. Emma huffed. "Oh no." And she bent down to start picking up the photos.

"Here, let me help you." Sofia said, also bending down to help pick up the pictures.

Emma gave her a slight look of confusion as she grabbed the pictures off the floor. She didn't understand why Sofia was helping her but she accepted it all the same as Sofia handed her the last of the photos. "Are any of your pictures ruined?"

Emma neatly put all of them into a pile. "Um, I don't think so."

"That's good." Sofia said as she tucked her feet under her legs. She then glanced to her side and saw a picture on the floor that she must've missed. "Oh, wait, there's one left." And she reached over to grab it and was about to hand it back to Emma when she happened to take a look at what the pictures was of.

A man with light brown hair, wearing black shaded sunglasses was leaning on the bonnet of a beat up, red and white car, a big smirk on his face and a huge brown dog sat in the passenger's seat. Sofia stared at the photo curiously.

"Cool car." She spoke up.

That wasn't the reaction people usually got when they looked at the Falcon so Emma grinned surprisingly.

"Thanks! It belongs to Han, he's a really close family friend." Emma said and Sofia knew she was talking about the man leaning on the bonnet. Sofia's eyes moved over to looked at the dog and Emma saw this. "That's Chewie," She filled in. "He's Han's dog. He always rides up front with him in the car and-"

Then Sofia's gaze happened to fall on a woman with a darker shade of brown hair who was facing away from the camera, her arm draped around the neck of the dog. Sofia pointed to her. "Who- who's that?" She asked.

Emma leaned over slightly to see where Sofia was pointing. "Oh! That's my mum. She didn't know I was taking the picture or else she would've turned to face the camera. She's kind of all I have. We do everything together." She finished quietly.

Then Sofia realised. She realised why Emma had reacted so badly when she'd said those things to her on the first night; it was because she only had her mum for a parent. A wave of guilt washed over her and she quickly shoved the picture into Emma's hands, standing up and wrapping her arms around herself as if she suddenly went cold.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Emma asked, with a concerned look on her face.

Sofia shook her head. "Nothing. I'm just cold, that's all."

And then Emma stood up too, walking over to her bed, grabbing her spare jacket and holding it out towards Sofia. She'd helped her pick up her photos, it was the least she could do.

Tentatively, Sofia reached out to take it. "Thank you." She said as she slipped the jacket on.

Emma smiled. "Hey, would you look at that? It fits you perfectly." And Sofia returned her smile.

There was a moment of silence as Sofia turned around to sit on her bed and Emma went up to her trunk at the foot of her bed, opening it and rummaging around inside. She pulled out a massive purple rectangle that read 'Cadbury's Dairy Milk'.

"Want some?" Emma asked, closing the lid of her trunk.

Sofia shrugged politely. "Uh, I don't know. I've never tried it."

Emma stared at Sofia with fake shock. "You've _never_ had Cadbury's chocolate before? How have you lived?" And Emma walked up to Sofia, broke off a piece of the chocolate and handed it to her. Sofia took it and nibbled a bit of the three squares she was given. It was good. Really good.

Sofia nodded in approval as she chewed and Emma grinned. "It's good, right?"

"It's great." Sofia replied as Emma took a seat next to her on her bed, opening the packet of chocolate more and tearing off another square.

"So, what's your mum like?" Emma asked, changing the subject. "Is she like one of those smother mothers who doesn't give you any space or does she let you go off and do your own thing?"

Sofia fidgeted on the spot as she brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Um, I don't have a mom actually. Well, obviously I did have one at some point I guess but her and my dad got divorced years ago. He never even mentions her, it's like she just disappeared off the face of the earth or something."

So, she was like her, then? Sofia too only had one parent looking after her, she'd never even met her mum in the same way Emma had never met her dad. It looks like they had more in common than they thought.

"It's so weird how no one stays together anymore." She said, biting into another square of chocolate.

Sofia nodded in approval. "Tell me about it."

It felt kind of weird, the two of them talking like this. They were talking as though they were almost friends, it was probably the most civilized conversation they'd had with each other since they met and Emma had to admit to herself that talking like this was much better than arguing; It was much less hassle.

Emma looked at Sofia thoughtfully, chewing on her chocolate. "I don't think I've ever asked you this but how old are you?"

"Well, I'll be 16 on October 17th." Sofia replied and Emma almost choked on her chocolate.

"Really?! So will I!" She returned and Sofia looked at her with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

"Your birthday is on October 17th? Weird."

"Yeah," Emma said in agreement and then she did a double take as she glanced outside the window. "Hey, look! It's stopped raining. Do you think Jenny will let us go get a drink?"

Emma jumped off the bed and opened the door to the cabin, walking down the stairs but stopped halfway when she didn't hear Sofia following her. She turned around to see Sofia standing at the top of the stairs, a musing look on her face.

Sofia couldn't explain it but she felt a strange feeling, one that started in the pit of her stomach. All she could do was stare at Emma. It was as though Sofia's eyes were staring right back at her; her and Emma did look pretty similar. Her jacked fitted Sofia just right, and then there was the fact that they shared a birthday...

"Aren't you coming?" Emma asked but Sofia didn't acknowledge Emma's question.

"Emma, what's your dad like?" She asked instead.

Emma shuffled around on the spot and looked down at the floor. Before she didn't feel comfortable talking about her dad but she figured now that Sofia had told her about her home life she could open up about hers.

"Uh, I don't know. I've never met him. Him and my mum split up when I was really young. I'm not really sure what happened, my mum doesn't like talking about it."

Sofia walked down a couple steps. "So, you don't even know what he looks like?"

Emma let out a small laugh. "No, of course, I know what he looks like."

"How?"

"Well, my mum had this old picture of him she kept in her bedside draw and one day she caught me looking at it so she let me keep it." Emma said as she leaned on the railing of the stairs.

Sofia's face scrunched up as though something was wrong. Emma frowned worryingly. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's nothing. It's just I feel like... It doesn't matter it's stupid." And she turned away from Emma slightly.

"If it was nothing then you wouldn't have mentioned it. Seriously what's up?"

There was a pause and then Sofia turned back and let out a loud sigh. "Emma, you've never met your dad, right? And I've never met my mom. You say that you only have one picture of your dad. Well, I only have one picture of my mom. Not to mention the fact that we share a birthday?"

Emma shook her head; not really sure what Sofia was getting at. "So?"

Sofia walked down a few more steps so she was closer to Emma. " _So?_ Emma, doesn't all of that seem a little weird to you?"

"Lots things are weird. Sometimes that's just how things turn out, doesn't mean they're all connected." Emma shrugged.

Sofia dropped her shoulders and paused for a moment. "You're right, I knew it was a stupid idea. I don't even know why I mentioned the picture thing anyway. I mean the picture you have of your dad is probably a whole picture, right?"

 _What?_

Did she just say what Emma thought she said? Yes, Emma did only have one picture of her dad but it wasn't a whole picture like Sofia had just implied, it was one that had a tear in it. Emma's eyes widened, slowly starting to realise what Sofia was trying to say. Sofia didn't notice the sudden startled look on Emma's face and she carried on talking.

"I'm surprised the picture I have of my mom is even still intact. It's so old and crinkled and it's ripped right down the middle and-" At this point Emma barrelled past Sofia, ran right back into the cabin and determinedly flung open her trunk, ransacking it. Sofia followed her back inside.

"Emma, what are you doing?" She sighed.

Finally, Emma found what she was looking for: the torn picture of her dad. She held it to her chest, not showing Sofia. "You said that the picture you have of your mum is old, and crinkled with a rip right down the middle? Well, this is the picture of my dad, and it's ripped too." She said slowly.

Sofia stared at the photo with a look mixed with nervousness and intrigue. "Right down the middle?" She asked in a hushed voice.

"Right. Down. The middle."

Sofia then instantly went to her bedside draw and started to look through it, pulling out a torn picture. She too held it to her chest

Emma breathed in deeply as she looked at Sofia's picture. Was this really happening?

"Okay," She said in a somewhat high-pitched voice. "How about on the count of three we show them to each other?"

Sofia nodded vigorously; she felt as though her heart was about to explode out of her chest.

"One." Emma started, breathing quickly.

"This is so insane," Sofia mumbled. "Two."

"Three!"

And at the same time Sofia and Emma turned their photos around to show each other and instantly both let out a gasp as they bought the pictures together. The tear in both pictures lined up perfectly and they fitted together like pieces of a puzzle. In that moment, it was as if everything fell into place.

Emma stared at Sofia's half of the picture with a look of disbelief. It was a picture of Jyn Erso. _Her mum._ It must've been a picture from years ago because she looked very young and there was a look of youthfulness in her huge grin; she must've only been about twenty years old when the picture was taken. Emma couldn't believe what she was looking at and neither could Sofia. Sofia wore a huge smile of astonishment as she looked at Emma's photo. Her dad, Cassian Andor, sat at what appeared to be a table in a pub or a bar of some kind, a warm, genuine smile on his face. Sofia was shocked at how much younger he looked and she couldn't quite believe that it was _her dad_ on the other half of the picture. The couple sat inwards towards each other, looking at one another as if they were the only people in the room. Emma couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"That's my mum." She breathed out.

"And that's my dad." Sofia returned.

The two lowered their halves of the picture and looked at each other, both with an excited glint in their eyes.

Emma let out a shocked laugh as she tried to slow her breathing, starting to comprehend what was happening. "So, if your dad is my dad and my mum is your mum-"

"Then, that means we're related." Sofia finished.

"It _means_ … We're sisters." Emma couldn't believe that those words were coming out of her mouth.

And Sofia and Emma naturally fell into a hug.

All the rivalry, all the bad feelings they had towards each other, everything, it all fell away in that moment. Sofia felt like a piece of her was finally found and Emma shared the same feeling.

"I'm sorry," Emma said, pulling away from Sofia. "For everything I've said and done."

"Don't apologise. I was kind of a bitch too." Sofia laughed lightly.

"It's just, I can't believe it! I'm a twin! There's two of me, I mean, two of us! This is-"

"Crazy!" Sofia finished.

"Completely crazy!"

Sofia let out another laugh. "Oh my God!" And her and Emma embraced each other in another hug.

They held onto each other tight, as if they were scared they would both be separated again then and there. It was like they were trying to make up for all the lost time in that one, single hug.

Fifteen whole years of being separated. They sure had _a lot_ to catch up on.


	7. A Brilliant Beyond Brilliant Idea

For the rest of that day, Emma and Sofia stayed in their cabin to talk about their lives, exchanging all sorts of stories with each other. As they had fifteen years of life to catch up on this talk continued way into the night with the girls deciding to push their beds together so they could stay up and talk even more. By the time they had finally got into bed properly, the big bar of chocolate that sat between them was finished.

With everything they were telling about themselves, it was ages until they'd got onto probably the most important subject of all: their parents. After they'd pushed their beds together, Emma and Sofia got their halves of the torn picture and pinned them on the wall above their beds, lining them up perfectly as if the picture had never been ripped in the first place.

"Em, what does mom do?" Sofia asked in the darkness of the cabin. It had probably gone well past 1am at this point but this didn't faze either of the girls as they remained wide awake.

"Well, she's in charge of this mechanical engineering research program at the Imperial College in London," Emma replied. "Our granddad ran the program before he died. They work on designing new tech and stuff."

Sofia gave a huge grin. To some that might have sounded like a boring profession but to Sofia it was the most interesting thing in the world. Having heard basically nothing about her mom her whole life she was desperate to learn everything about her and she listened very closely to the all the pieces of information Emma gave her.

Emma continued, changing the subject to their father. "What about dad? What does he do?"

"Oh, dad owns a vineyard. He makes his own type of white wine. It wasn't his plan but he sort of just fell into it and then when it became successful he stuck with it," Sofia shrugged. "But he does enjoy it."

Emma beamed. "Cool," And she paused. "I wish I could meet him."

Sofia gave a mournful smile; she wished she could meet her mom too. There was a silence as Emma and Sofia got more comfortable in their beds.

"You know what I think is really weird, Em?" Sofia spoke up.

Emma turned to look at her. "What?"

"Neither mom or dad ever got remarried. Has mom ever come close?"

"No," Emma laughed. "She's not really about that kind of stuff. She says that she can't focus on relationships because I'm the most important thing in her life."

Sofia let out a small laugh too. "Yeah, dad's never come close either. I wonder why?" She pondered.

"Maybe they couldn't move on from each other after they split up?" Emma suggested.

"Ha, yeah right. If that's the case then why have they gone all these years without talking to each other?" Sofia asked, expressively.

Emma didn't reply, breathing out slowly and another silence fell between the two girls. Then, in almost a whisper as if she was scared to say it, Sofia spoke up.

"Em? What's going to happen after camp is over?"

Emma moved her head so she was facing Sofia.

"What do you mean?

Sofia breathed in. "I mean what's going to happen to us? We can't just go home and pretend that none of this ever happened, pretend that we never met, because honestly? I don't think I could do that."

Emma hadn't considered what would happen when the time came for them to go home and she furrowed her brow.

"I- I don't know what's going to happen." Emma answered truthfully.

Sofia continued. "And it's not as if we can just mention each other to our parents. Like they'd even take us seriously."

She did have a point there.

There had to be a reason why Jyn and Cassian never told their daughters that they were a twin. Emma always assumed that her mum didn't like talking about what happened with her dad because it upset her and ever since they got divorced they hadn't made any kind of contact with each other. Maybe they were both angry at the time but if they met now, nearly fifteen years later, could it be different? From the way they were looking at each other in the torn picture, it was clear that they loved each other so perhaps if they met up they could talk things through and maybe, just maybe, get back together?

Although that's what she wanted, Emma dismissed the idea almost immediately, internally shaking her head; it was stupid anyway. There would be no chance of getting her mum and dad to meet up again after all this time, they had spent fifteen years apart already surely, they could go another fifteen years without talking.

But Emma couldn't just go home after camp and leave Sofia behind unmentioned, not now that they'd met. There had to be a way to keep her and Sofia together while at the same time getting their parents to meet. There had to be a reason why they hadn't been with anyone else since they split up.

Maybe Sofia was right, maybe the reason why they ever remarried or got into another relationship is because they still cared about each other and they won't admit it to themselves. But how would they get them to admit it? Emma racked her brain, trying to think of a solution.

Then it clicked.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Emma said, shooting up off her pillow with wide eyes, "I have an amazing, brilliant beyond brilliant idea! I'm being serious! I am a total genius!"

Sofia sat up, somewhat taken aback by Emma's sudden burst of energy. She made sure she was eye level with Emma, curious about what her sudden "brilliant" idea was.

Emma breathed in, ecstatic to share.

"Sofia, you want to know what mum is like, right?" Sofia nodded and Emma continued. "And I'm _dying_ to meet dad. So, what I'm thinking is, and don't freak out, okay?"

Sofia once again nodded in agreement as Emma paused and put her hands together, eyes glistening with excitement.

"What I'm thinking is that we should switch places!"

Sofia's face twisted up into a mixture of shock and astonishment but Emma only carried on smiling.

"When camp is over I'll go back to California as you and you go back to London as me!"

Sofia stared at her sister, her mouth hanging wide open in disbelief.

"Emma! Don't be stupid, that plan would never work in a million years!" Sofia almost screamed.

Of course, Emma would be the one to come up with a ridiculous idea like that; there was no way they could just switch places, they'd get discovered immediately.

But Emma didn't seem to think anything was wrong with it and she gave it all she got to try and convince Sofia to go along with her.

"Oh, c'mon It wouldn't be that hard, we could pull it off! We're twins, aren't we?"

"Emma, we may be twins but we are both completely, one hundred percent different." Sofia said, trying to make her sister see sense.

"So, what's the problem? I'll teach you to be me and you teach me to be you," Emma sighed, as if it was easy. "Look, I can do you already," She said and she shook herself off a bit, pulling her short hair into a ponytail. "Might want to quit while you're behind, Erso." She said in practically flawless American accent. She even got her mannerisms right and Sofia rolled her eyes amused.

Emma quietened her voice as Sofia looked to her side, a brooding expression on her face.

"Please, Sofe. I gotta meet my pa." She said clasping her hands together and exaggeratedly sticking out her lower lip, giving pleading eyes.

Sofia looked over to her, thinking the idea over in her head.

It was risky, extremely risky. There was a big chance that as soon as they got off the plane their parents would realise that Emma wasn't Emma and Sofia wasn't Sofia, ruining the whole thing and sending them straight back home.

But, perhaps Emma was right. They already looked alike, maybe it wasn't so hard to pretend to be Emma. It would also mean that Sofia would get to meet her mom which she wanted more than anything. And then there was the case of actually un-switching them; maybe that would be the key to keeping Emma and Sofia together whilst at the same time getting their parents to meet.

"The thing is, you know," Sofia spoke up after there was a lull. "If we _do_ switch, sooner or later our parents will have to un-switch us."

Emma gave a huge grin, nodding slowly. Sofia was finally getting it.

"And when they do they'll have to meet again. Face to face."

"After all this time."

And in that moment Emma knew, she knew that Sofia had agreed to her plan and they both laid back down in their beds.

"See? Told you I was a genius." Emma piped up and the girls both laughed.

They didn't have long until camp was over so if there was any chance of pulling this off they had to get to work right away.

* * *

For the next few days, much to the puzzlement of the campers and camp staff, Emma and Sofia became inseparable.

Formerly sworn rivals, they now never left each other's side as they chatted happily, ignoring the confused looks from the onlookers. Everyday both Emma and Sofia learnt something new and they would pay extreme amounts of attention to each other, soaking up everything they were told; Sofia would learn what life was like in London and Emma would learn what life was like in California.

At breakfast that morning, the girls sat cramped up on the small isolation table, their food sitting untouched, as they talked to each other. Sofia presented Emma with a few photos from back home.

"This is Leia Organa. She's an old friend of dad's," She said sliding the picture over to Emma. "She was the first person he met when he came into the country."

Emma beamed at the picture; it was a photo Sofia had taken of Leia curled up on a chair in their back garden reading a book. She looked peaceful in the photo, her features small and slight with her brunette hair plaited all the way round her head. She was really beautiful and she looked kind enough.

"She's really nice _and_ smart; she used to study politics at UCLA in Los Angeles." Sofia finished.

Sofia then went on to show Emma pictures of her house, a gorgeous Mediterranean style home surrounded my green hills, the sun shining in the picture making the house look golden. It wasn't a massive house but it wasn't small either. The back garden looked over the entire vineyard and Emma loved it.

Sofia smiled when she saw Emma's look of awe. "We've lived there since I was six."

"It's beautiful." Emma muttered to herself but loud enough so Sofia could hear her and Sofia reached over to gather up her photos. It was then Emma's turn to show Sofia her pictures and she pulled them out of her jacket pocket, putting them in front of Sofia.

"I only really have two main people in my life, and Chewie of course. I know you've already seen a picture of them but I thought you'd want to see more."

Sofia glanced down at the photo Emma handed to her: It was a picture of Jyn hugging Emma from behind as they were standing in what looked like a theme park, a huge towering rollercoaster in the background, both with huge grins on their faces. Sofia's eye's flicked over to her mom and the corners of her mouth turned up.

"It's from when we went to _Thorpe Park_ a few years ago. Han took the picture." Emma spoke up.

The other photo was taken in front of Emma's house on her first day of school; a five-year-old Emma stood in the gateway, dressed in a school uniform wearing a toothy grin, one of her front teeth missing. Emma's house was a classic London townhouse with a blue door and Sofia thought it looked like a house you'd find in a novel; It was nice.

"I can't wait to get there." She said, looking back up at Emma and she was met with the same enthusiastic look.

Emma understood how she felt as she too couldn't wait to get to California. She wasn't just excited to see the house and meet Leia, she was also excited, more than excited in fact, to meet her father. She knew that Sofia felt the same way about mum so the two carried on exchanging stories from their lives, not missing out any details.

* * *

With all the teaching that was taking place, time moved by really quickly.

The girls showed pictures, taught each other the layout of their homes, staying up all night talking. Sofia even taught Emma a little bit of Spanish just in case which turned out to be pretty funny.

Emma had trouble pronouncing some of the sounds and she couldn't properly do the accent and this left Sofia in a fit of laughter.

"Haven't you have ever learnt Spanish at school before?" She asked, trying to stifle her giggles.

"Uh, I got a C in it last year." Emma shrugged and Sofia laughed even harder but she calmed herself down slightly.

"Well, it's okay because I don't fully know it either. This is just in case." And after a quick pause she broke out into laughter again so Emma grabbed a pillow and leaned over to hit her with it; which shut her up alright.

More and more learning took place after that and by the final two nights of camp, Emma and Sofia were well versed in the subject of each other's lives. They even quizzed each other to make sure that they fully remembered everything but they'd probably left the most important thing till last.

Sofia stared in the mirror that evening as her hair sat free over her shoulders; she looked at it almost mournfully.

She took a deep breath as Emma walked over to her, scissors in hand.

Sofia scrunched her face up in discomfort. "Do we really have to do this?" She asked, hunching her shoulders up.

Emma raised her eyebrows. "Sofe. There is no way hair can grow that fast over the course of four weeks. Get real. Besides I'm only cutting off two-inches, max. Just to make our hair the same length." And Sofia made a noise of reluctance.

"But what if you mess up?!" Sofia exclaimed.

"Then you can cut my hair so we're even." Emma said.

Sofia nervously rolled her eyes but then after a quick, calm glance at Emma she closed her eyes and exhaled loudly to prepare herself. After a pause she opened her eyes with determination.

"Okay! Just do it. Besides you said I could use a haircut, right?" Sofia chuckled nervously.

Emma laughed through her nose, remembering the comment she made about Sofia's hair when they first met, before composing herself and nodding, looking at her own hair which sat just below her shoulders. Then she took a strand of Sofia's brown hair in her hand and carefully placing it between the blade of the scissors. And she cut.

The action made her jump a little as the hair fell to the floor and Emma got another strand and cut again. She didn't think that hairdressing would be one of the activities available for her to do at camp but at least she was finding it fun.

Sofia, on the other hand, found it completely and entirely nerve-racking and the whole time she sat whimpering in her seat, eyes tightly shut. It's not as if she didn't trust Emma, she knew she'd do her best. But Emma's best could turn out to be a complete disaster so Sofia couldn't stop making anxious noises in her seat.

She didn't open her eyes until Emma said she was done. Emma put the scissors down on the dresser and pulled the mirror into place so that Sofia could see what she looked like with her new, shorter hair.

Sofia looked at herself with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open. She was surprised that shorter hair actually looked good on her.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed. "I look _exactly_ like you." She said turning to Emma.

Emma laughed. "I should think so! You're supposed to, aren't you?" And she reached over to put her arm around Sofia's shoulder, giving her a warm squeeze.

"Now we really do look like twins."

Sofia moved her head to look at her, grinning.

It wasn't long now until they'd go home, until they switched lives. One way or another they had to get their back parents back together.

And they wanted more than anything for this plan to work.

* * *

Finally, Emma and Sofia's time at Camp Redwood came to a close.

The final day of camp was just as busy as the first. People were running around, getting on buses and saying goodbye to their friends and various camp staff. Even Jenny came up to the girls and wished them goodbye, hugging them as she did which came as a pleasant surprise to both of them. Sofia had also managed to find Jess before she left and they exchanged numbers with Emma doing the same but for Violet and Milo. They didn't talk much the final weeks of camp but they were still friends.

In the crowd of hundreds, Emma and Sofia stood ready to say their final goodbyes to each other.

After checking the documents for the final time, Emma handed Sofia her passport.

"Okay here's your plane ticket. Han will meet you at Heathrow airport when you land."

Then Sofia handed Emma her documents.

"And here's your passport and plane ticket. Dad will pick you up after you get to LAX." She replied and Emma reached out to take them as a silence hung between them.

"This is it," Sofia breathed out, taking the passport and plane ticket out of Emma's hand. "Are we really doing this?"

Sofia found it slightly weird to see her sister in her clothes, of course, they fit her perfectly, but it really looked like they were the same person.

"Yes! We can't turn back now," Emma's voice was filled with determination. "Remember, you're finding out why mum and dad split up."

"And you're finding out how they met." Sofia responded.

There was a moment of pause between the girls until they were interrupted by the voice of a camp counsellor on the megaphone.

"Erso, Emma! Your cab is here."

"That's me. When do you leave?" Sofia asked.

Emma shook her head. "Not for a couple of hours. Give mum a hug for me?" She said, leaning forward to embrace Sofia.

Sofia hugged back tightly. "And give dad one from me."

"Last call, Erso, Emma!" The counsellor shouted again.

And Sofia gave Emma a hopeful smile before she gathered up her things and ran over to the cab, her luggage being put in the back of the car. She said a speedy goodbye to the camp staff member and then got in the cab.

Emma watched as the cab slowly pulled out of Camp Redwood, driving away and she crossed her arms over her chest whilst also crossing her fingers.

"Good luck." Emma whispered to herself as she fully realised the scope of what she was about to do.

A small part of her was extremely nervous about meeting a man she technically didn't know, despite the fact that she had wanted to meet him for as long as she could remember. But even so, she felt like she wanted to run up to someone and tell them the whole plan to get out of it.

But a larger part of her immediately rejected the idea. She had to meet her dad, she just had to. Even after all the teaching Sofia had given her and the fact that they could imitate each other perfectly, Emma still felt anxious about going to California knowing that Sofia was on the other side of the Atlantic in London as her.

But she knew that it was worth it. It was definitely better than staring at a half torn-up photograph for the rest of her life.

This was definitely the right thing to do.


	8. Going Home

Emma sat in her seat on the plane, hands nervously clasped together.

She was about twenty minutes away from Los Angeles airport and the nerves that had been sitting dormant for the majority of the flight had suddenly awoken and Emma found herself to be extremely twitchy. She was just so anxious! The reality of who she was about to meet was bouncing around in her head and about a million alarms blared, telling her to not do what she was about to do, just like they did when she watched Sofia leave camp.

Emma closed her eyes and forced herself to take deep breaths; it would be fine. She could imitate Sofia, she knew everything she needed to know about Sofia but she was scared that in the excitement and anxiousness of finally meeting her dad after all this time the real her, Emma, would slip through the cracks and the whole plan would fail.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now beginning our decent into Los Angeles, California. Please turn off your mobile devices and thank you for flying with American Airlines." One of the stewardesses announced on the intercom.

Emma blinked her eyes open and lifted her chin towards the end of the cabin as the stewardess spoke and then she leaned back to look out her window as the plane neared L.A.

A cluster of skyscrapers sat in the middle of the city and the sun shone bright in the blue sky, lighting up every corner of the city, Emma's eyes suddenly started glistening with excitement; Los Angeles looked so vibrant even from a few thousand feet in the air.

Emma rested her head back on the headrest and pushed out a breath of air.

"This is it," She whispered to herself. "God, I hope he likes me. Please, please like me."

The plane then hit tarmac and landed; she was finally in Los Angeles.

Emma picked up her, well, she picked up Sofia's backpack and then departed the plane along with everyone else.

She eventually made her way out of the arrival gate and into the airport's main concourse, looking through the gaps of the people in front of her. Sofia said that their dad would be there when she landed so where was he?

Emma walked further into the main concourse, looking around the giant space but she still couldn't see him. However, she did spot some benches so if she had to she could stand on those to get a better look.

"Sofia!" A voice from behind her suddenly shouted over to her.

For a split-second Emma didn't realise that she was supposed to be Sofia but then froze on the spot as she realised who had just called out to her. Eyes widening, she turned around slowly.

Her father, Cassian Andor, was pushing his way through a crowd of people holding a small, hand written sign that read ' _Welcome home!_ '

When he finally moved past the crowd, he stood a few steps away from her and broke out into a huge smile.

Emma stared at him for what seemed like forever, as she took in the sight of her dad, _her dad_. A man she had never seen in person, who she'd rarely heard about her whole life, was standing right in front of her.

He looked slightly different now than he did in the torn-up photograph: his shoulders were broader and a few crinkles had appeared around his eyes. But his smile was the same, warm and genuine. He had the same colour eyes as she did; a dark brown colour that almost resembled copper.

She looked at him for a few moments longer, not wanting to forget the moment she met her father for the first time.

"Dad?" She muttered in a hushed voice.

After a split-second pause she started smiling uncontrollably.

"Dad!" She said aloud this time and all of sudden Emma broke out into a sprint, running towards Cassian.

Cassian was nearly knocked off his feet by the force of his daughter's hug as she locked her arms around his shoulders and once he regained his footing he buried his face into her neck. Emma held on as tightly as she could, as though she was scared he would suddenly vanish into thin air.

She had gone through many ideas of what meeting her dad for the first time would be like in her mind but any illusions were immediately beaten out by the reality. She almost didn't want to let go.

"I'm happy to see you too!" Cassian said through slight laughter as Emma loosened her grip from his shoulders but his expression turned into one of concern as he got eye level with her and saw the teary look in her eyes. Emma was in no doubt a bit overwhelmed; this was the first time she'd ever hugged her dad after all.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked gently.

Sofia's accent came naturally to Emma as she spoke. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm more than fine it's just- I've really, really missed you." Which most definitely wasn't a lie.

A smile returned to Cassian's face. "I've missed you too," And then he glanced at Emma's hair. "Hey, you've cut your hair?"

Obviously, Emma's hair had always been shorter, it was Sofia who had the haircut, but she was supposed to be Sofia so Emma nodded.

"Yeah, just a little off the ends." She shrugged.

"Well it looks great." Cassian replied and Emma grinned.

Then he straightened up and put his arm around Emma's shoulders, handing the small sign to her.

"C'mon," He said. "Let's get home."

* * *

On the car ride home, Emma sat silently, the 'welcome home' sign in her hands.

She studied it, eyes carefully moving over the writing. It was such a small thing to be intrigued about but Emma couldn't stop looking at it.

She'd once heard that you could tell a lot about a person from their handwriting; Cassian's handwriting was small but slanted and it was as if Emma was trying to find out as much as she could about him from his writing alone. She was touched that he'd made the sign in the first place and the corners of her mouth turned up.

She hadn't said much since they'd left the airport but she didn't want to as she was very much enjoying just sitting and being in her dad's company. She enjoyed watching him make gestures, to hear the inclinations in his voice, to see how his facial expression changed as he talked. Emma loved all of it.

He talked about all the things that had happened in the four weeks she had been gone: Leia was doing fine as always and she was looking forward to having 'Sofia' back, business with the vineyard was going extremely well, just the same old same old according to Cassian. Nothing was new but to Emma it was all new so she listened very closely.

She looked out of the car window as the city of Los Angeles sped by.

It wasn't that much different from London with its bustling streets and crowds of people except everything looked more modern and sleek with tall palm trees lining the pavements whereas London looked older. London of course was not near any beaches but L.A. was placed on the west coast of America meaning that not long after they had set off in the car Emma was met with the sight of long stretches of soft sand and glistening turquoise water; It looked peaceful.

She was in the midst of staring at the ocean with wide eyes when her dad spoke up.

"Sofe, are you feeling okay? It's just you haven't said a word since we left the airport. Usually you'd be telling me to shut up by now!" Cassian laughed.

Emma turned away from the window to look at him. "I'm fine. Really. I guess I've just missed being around you that's all." She replied truthfully.

Cassian nodded. "Four weeks is long time to be away from home."

' _Try fifteen years_ ,' Emma thought to herself.

"It feels like forever." She replied as Sofia.

"Then remind to not let me send you away next summer." Cassian laughed, looking back at the road.

Emma smiled in return. "I definitely will. I don't think I want to be away from you for that long ever again."

He turned to look at his daughter. "I'm glad you're back." Cassian said sincerely.

"Me too." Emma beamed.

The car ride lasted for about an hour as they drove further away from the city, the city scape eventually being replaced by green hills and small towns.

Emma had a feeling that they would be approaching the vineyard soon enough and a buzz of excitement shot through her at the thought of finally meeting Leia and seeing the house for the first time. That feeling only got more intense as they drove and finally they turned a corner with Emma being able to see glimpses of the house on the horizon.

"Oh my God." She said uncontrollably as she spotted the golden coloured walls. "Oh my God!"

"Now you're starting to sound like your old self!" Cassian said as they drove through the front gates and pulled up the driveway.

He turned the ignition off and Emma basically jumped out the car, not even grabbing the backpack that was on the front seat.

Her look of awe was then suddenly interrupted as the wide set oak doors on the front of the house opened and she saw a quick flash of a woman bounding out.

Emma recognised her as Leia almost instantly and before she could say anything, Leia embraced her in a huge hug. Emma took a few seconds to register the hug but then returned it.

"Hello, gorgeous!" Leia delightfully exclaimed, swaying her from side to side. "Oh, I'm so happy you're here!" And she pulled away from Emma looking at her with an overjoyed look.

The pictures really didn't do Leia justice and looking at Leia in person now, Emma was pleasantly taken aback as she seemed to have one those faces that looked like it belonged in a graceful painting in some museum. Sofia had told her that she was nice but Emma hadn't expected this level of kindness; and she'd only just met her.

Emma suddenly felt overwhelmed by the new environment and meeting Leia so she just stood on the spot not sure what to say to her and Leia only looked at her expectantly.

"What? What's the matter, why are you so quiet?"

Emma managed to find the words. "Nothing. I'm just happy to be home."

Leia put on a gleeful expression. "Well, I'm happy to have you back."

"I think we all are." Cassian interjected as he walked up towards them, carrying Emma's bags, smiling.

"C'mon. Let's go take your things upstairs." Leia said taking the duffel bag off of Cassian and then putting her arm around Emma's shoulders as they walked into the house.

Entering the house, Emma saw right away all the pictures that were displayed proudly all over the walls. Sofia was in most of them and a small, instinctive part of Emma quickly glanced at the walls and surfaces to see if their mum was in any of the photos but she quickly brushed this idea off. Why would she be in them?

It was a stupid thought but it had crossed Emma's mind nonetheless. She didn't manage to see the rest of the downstairs area but Emma couldn't wait to explore it.

The stairwell was close to the entrance of the house and Emma and Leia walked up the wooden steps to Sofia's bedroom where Leia opened the door, chucking the duffel bag on the double bed. Emma walked in behind her, looking around the room.

Sofia's room was painted a light gold colour and it was spacious but cosy with oak beams lining the ceiling, lots of different bright colours splashed here and there. There was a bay window with opened dark wooden shutters and sheer white tinted curtains on either side of it on the far side of the room. Emma immediately became curious and walked over to it looking out the open window.

The window not only overlooked the back garden of the house but also, much to Emma's delight, the vineyard, which seemed to go on for miles. The sun lit up the vineyard in an almost spellbinding way and Emma's mouth hung open slightly; It was a million times better seeing it in person than seeing it in the pictures.

She let out a breathless gasp. "Wow."

Leia chuckled, preoccupied with unzipping the duffel bag.

"I know. For what seems like the first time ever your room is actually clean. I tided it up for you so you didn't have to when you got back."

Emma turned around, realising Leia hadn't seen her reaction to the vineyard.

"Oh, thank you." She replied politely, shifting her weight off of the ledge of the bay window and walking up to the bed to help Leia unpack 'her' things.

"You're welcome," Leia smiled and the stopped unpacking to look at Emma. "Also, I did notice that you'd cut your hair. Shorter hair looks good on you!" She then paused and gave her a quizzical look.

"See, I knew something about you had changed." Leia finished, putting one hand on her hip.

Emma flicked her eyes up to look at Leia, an almost mischievous smile on her features.

"Well, besides the hair cut it's just the same old me. Promise." She said after a beat and Emma casually put her arm behind her back and crossed her fingers for luck.

* * *

Sofia couldn't sleep.

The flight from Oregon to London was an overnight flight but still she couldn't manage to drift off.

She was caught in this cycle of closing her eyes and then trying to convince herself to fall asleep and when she thought she was getting somewhere, her mind would decide to go through every bad-case scenario of what might happen when she landed. She found it kind of amusing how she was on a plane and yet the thing she was most afraid of was getting off it.

Not surprisingly, she was nervous about getting to London, nervous about the moment she would finally meet her mom after fifteen years and the silence of the plane was the ideal place for her mind to become sick with anxiety.

What if her mom didn't like her? Of course, she would "like her", she would be seeing her as Emma after all, not as Sofia. But on the inside, Sofia was desperate for her mom to love her as Sofia, not Emma.

Sofia found herself overthinking it and getting too frustrated so she tried to stop thinking negatively as it wasn't doing her any favours.

Everything would be fine, she was going to meet her mom, something she has wanted to do all her life, and it'd be fine. She would do her best to ask about dad as well as this is what her and Emma had agreed on. She couldn't let her sister down now because she got scared. They were doing this for a reason and Sofia was determined to go through with it.

She breathed out, closing her eyes.

"You can do this." She whispered to herself and her breathing became less erratic.

Sofia kept her eyes closed and slowly, she felt herself relax and she begin to drift...

* * *

Sofia blinked herself awake as sunlight filtered through an unclosed gap in the window shutter next to her seat. She then suddenly jolted up as her eyes set on the city of London and a small, opened mouth grin formed on her face.

There it was. Sofia couldn't quite believe that she was actually there and that she was about to set foot in the city for the first time. She knew that it wouldn't be long now till she'd see her mom and a giddy feeling spread throughout her.

' _I can do this, I can do this_.'

Sofia chanted this in her mind over and over again. She carried on chanting it as she disembarked the flight and right up until she stepped out of the arrivals gate.

Sofia knew that Han was meeting her but she couldn't see him right away when she walked out of the gate. She could certainly see lots of other people though which was one of the things that London and L.A. had in common; the huge crowds of people.

Her eyes scanned the area for a few moments longer and then she saw him, leaning up against a pillar wearing dark shaded sunglasses a few feet away from her.

"Han!" She called out in a rush of excitement, naturally slipping into Emma's British accent, as she ran towards him.

He turned to Sofia and when he saw her coming over, his face broke out into a smile.

"Emma!" he said loudly as he opened his arms.

Sofia only hesitated for a split second before she gave him a quick hug. Pulling apart, he put his hand on her shoulder.

"How ya' doing, kid? God, I hope you had an awful time at that camp, there is no way you are going back!"

Sofia shrugged. "It wasn't that bad. But I'm really glad to be home now."

"Good," Han grinned and then gently pointed in Sofia's direction. "You're nearly sixteen, you don't need no camp counsellor telling you what to do."

"Okay." Sofia chuckled. She could already tell she was going to like being around Han very much.

Han straightened himself out as he stood up. "C'mon, let's go. Your mom is dying to see you."

Sofia beamed at that comment as she and Han walked out of Heathrow airport. They were met with a warm, summer breeze and Sofia relished the fresh air having been stuck on a plane for nearly a day.

Han walked a few paces ahead of her as they made their way through the car park where he finally came to a stop and began walking round the edge of a car. Sofia stopped in her tracks when she realised that it was the same red and white car from the pictures.

A delighted look formed on her face as she found herself looking at the Falcon. It didn't actually look that bad in real life compared to the photos and Sofia carried on staring in awe.

"You going to stand there staring all day?" Han called out to her as he opened the trunk of the car to put Sofia's luggage in there.

Sofia snapped out of her trance like state and walked over to the passenger side of the car as Han got in the driver's seat. The seats were a cream colour leather and they were surprisingly comfortable for such an old car.

Sofia carried on looking around the Falcon's interior when she happened to notice a pair of gold dice on a chain hanging from the rear-view mirror. They were similar to the car in the sense that they looked old; each imperfection and scratch on the dice looked as though they told a story.

Sofia watched as they swayed slightly as Han turned on the ignition. It took it a while to start up but the car eventually came to life and they pulled out of the airport's carpark, finally heading home.

The drive from Heathrow to Kensington, which is where Emma said she lived, was a short journey that was only about half an hour long so Sofia didn't have a long time to wait before the got there which was sort of a relief after such a long flight; she was tired of waiting.

As they moved in closer to central London, Sofia could see the tops of many buildings. The London skyline was one that was very familiar as she'd seen it in movies and on TV and although she didn't know the name of a lot of the buildings she saw she still got excited nonetheless.

Han didn't say a lot on the ride home but he did fill Sofia in on a few things. By the sounds of it, it was just regular stuff that had been happening in the past four weeks.

"Yeah, not a lot has really happened while you've been gone," He said as he drove. "Nothing big at all."

Somehow, and in a way that puzzled herself, Sofia got the impression that he was holding back and that there was something on his mind but she shrugged it off and continued to look out of the window.

Han spoke up. "Anyway, how was camp? You were so desperate to go, was it worth it?"

"I was?" Sofia asked before she remembered that she was supposed to be acting as Emma.

She didn't know that Emma had been excited to go to camp but she corrected herself accordingly. "Oh, yeah, I was. Um, like I said it was fine." She nodded, not really sure what to say. It's not as if she could tell him about meeting Emma or their plan.

Han didn't look convinced and he gave her a quick glance. "It had to have been more than fine. It was obviously more than fine if you didn't call home while you were there."

Sofia blew air through her nose. I, uh, meant to call but I was just... Really busy." Could that be considered a lie? She had been really busy with Emma after all.

"Busy? With what?" Han questioned curiously.

Sofia paused. ' _I was busy finding out I had a secret twin and coming up with a plan to get our parents back together_.' She thought to herself but pursed her lips as she looked at Han who was waiting for an answer.

"Busy with fencing." She replied and Han let out a loud laugh.

"You really are quite the character, Em."

Sofia smiled. "Well, you know me."

The drive lasted for another ten minutes as the car waded through traffic when Han eventually turned a corner and they were driving down a long road filled with houses similar to the ones from Emma's photo.

A knot formed in Sofia's stomach as she recognised the street and realised how close they were from finally stopping.

Not long now...

The car came to swift stop as Han pulled up in front of a house, the one with the blue door.

Sofia felt as though her heart was about to burst out of her chest and she reached out to pull the car door handle and step out of the car.

Han lagged behind as he got the luggage out of the car and Sofia made her way through the front gate, walking up the steps to the door.

There were stained glass windows around the edge of the door and all the pieces were different colours, fitting into an intricate pattern perfectly. Sofia almost wanted to reach out and touch one of them as the pattern caught her eye.

Breathing rapidly, she cautiously put her hand out to turn the door handle and the front door creaked as she pushed it open.

Walking into the house she noticed that the floor was wooden, a blue patterned carpet spread out by the entrance way. The staircase was on the right-hand side of the front door with an open archway leading into the living room on the left.

Sofia walked through it and gazed around the room, her eyes falling on a banner that was hung up on the wall above the fireplace that said, ' _Welcome home, Emma!_ '

Sofia couldn't help but smile with wide eyes, already falling in love with the house she hadn't even seen properly yet.

Her gazing was suddenly interrupted by a shout that came from upstairs.

"Emma?"

 _Is that?_ -

Sofia whipped around and walked quickly back out into the hallway where she saw someone turn a corner on top of the stairs.

Her face broke out into a look of joy and shock as Sofia registered who was at the top of the stairs.

There Jyn stood, holding onto the railings.

It was her. _Her mother_.

"Mum." Sofia breathed out and a huge smile formed on Jyn's face.

"You're back!" And Jyn started running down the stairs with Sofia running up and meeting her halfway. The two instantly embraced each other in a big hug.

Sofia felt like she could've cried in that moment as she stood hugging Jyn and all the anxieties and worries slipped away instantly. She felt as though she could've stayed like that forever, like she could've held onto Jyn as tightly as she was now and just stand there for the rest of her life. Sofia was living the moment she finally met her mom, tightening her grip around her mom's shoulders.

Jyn's hand supported the back of Sofia's head and she stroked her hair comfortingly, happy to have her daughter back home with her after four, long weeks.

Jyn was the first to pull away from the hug and Sofia was able to look at her mom's face in person for the first time in fifteen years.

She was just as beautiful now as she was in the picture, her face not having changed that much at all. Her jade green eyes looked at Sofia warmly and a loving smile graced Jyn's face.

Sofia felt safe when she looked at her and she supposed that this is how everyone felt when they saw their mother.

She took in every detail of her face, every crease, every slight imperfection, all of it. Sofia wanted to remember everything. She breathed in the soft scent of roses that came from the perfume Jyn was wearing and in that moment Sofia instantly felt at home.

"I missed you so much." Jyn said, cupping Sofia's cheek.

"I missed you, too." Sofia replied, almost choking up.

Jyn could hear the tears in Sofia's voice and she pulled her into another hug. "Oh, I know. "It feels like forever."

"You have no idea." Sofia said through a slight laugh.

The two stood on the stairs for a little while longer, holding each other and Sofia cherished every moment of it.

* * *

A little while later, Jyn and Sofia sat at the dinner table in the dining room, two cups of tea sitting between them.

The two had spent time catching up with each other; Jyn asked about camp and Sofia talked and talked.

She loved the way her mom's face lit up as she spoke to her which made her want to talk for hours more just so she could keep on seeing that face.

Han leaned over on one of the kitchen counter tops; there wasn't a wall separating the kitchen and dining room so the whole room was open plan.

"I don't know what you did to her Jyn but it worked. She was so quiet on the way home."

Jyn laughed. "Ah, she's just happy to be back with her mum, that's all." And she turned back to Sofia and gave her a quick wink which made Sofia grin as she sipped her drink.

Then Sofia heard a loud noise as something bounded down the stairs rapidly and claw marks could be heard clashing against the wooden floors as a big brown ball of fur came running into the dining room panting.

Sofia realised that it was Chewie and she felt almost bad for forgetting about him in the joy of meeting her mom. He must've been upstairs sleeping when she came in.

She jumped off her chair to go say hello to him. "Hi, Chewie!" She exclaimed but the dog instantly switched from calm to alert and he started barking at Sofia. She jumped back in surprise as Chewie kept barking at her.

 _Crap_.

He must've sensed that she wasn't really Emma and he carried on barking. Han moved round the kitchen counters and into the dining area, walking up to Chewie.

"What the hell's the matter with you, you moofmilker? It's Emma." He said leaning down to stroke Chewie's head.

"Oh, I probably just smell like camp that's all," Sofia said, quickly coming up with an excuse.

Han then took Chewie by his collar and guided him outside into the back. "What's the matter with you?" She heard him say as he left the room. "It's like you didn't even recognise her."

Sofia sat back down in her seat at the dining table and Jyn gave her a sympathetic look. "Don't worry about Chewie, I'm sure he'll calm down."

Sofia nodded and then took another sip of her tea.

There was a small lull in the conversation and Jyn was about to say something to Sofia when a knock sounded at the front door and the Sofia heard it open. Her head shot up and her brow instantly furrowed.

"Hello?" A voice called out through the house.

A man's voice.

Sofia looked at her mom. "Who's that? We aren't expecting anyone are we?"

At this point Han had come back into the house and made his way over to the kitchen again.

Jyn looked over from the direction of the front door towards Sofia and gave a sheepish smile.

"Emma," She started before stopping to take a deep breath. "There's something I haven't told you yet-"

But she was instantly cut off by the appearance of a man who made his way into the dining room.

He was tall, with curled sandy, blonde hair and steel grey eyes. His face was slightly covered in stubble and his shoulders were broad.

Sofia didn't recall his face from any of the pictures Emma had showed her and for one second she thought she was imagining him but she realised she wasn't when she gave a quick glance over to Han who subtly rolled his eyes at the sight of the man.

She glanced back over to her mom with narrow eyes as the stranger walked further into the room.

"Hi, everyone!" He smiled, revealing a set of perfect teeth. "Did I miss anything?" And to further Sofia's confusion he moved towards Jyn and put a hand on her shoulder.

Instead of pushing the man's hand off her shoulder, Jyn placed hers on top and smiled up at him. Sofia's eyes widened in bewilderment and she once again looked over to Han for some sort of explanation but he only raised his eyebrows and took a sip of the coffee he made earlier.

Why wouldn't Han look at her? What was going on?

Jyn spoke up to the man. "No, you haven't missed anything. Emma just got back."

The man then looked over towards Sofia and smiled again. "So, you're the famous Emma, huh? I've heard so much about you. I'm glad your back home, did you have a good time at camp?"

Sofia couldn't find the words and she continued to stare at this stranger with a scrunched-up look. It was like she was deer in the headlights. How did he know about her?

Finally, she managed to stutter out a response. "Yeah. I, uh, had a- a great time," She paused for a moment to regain her composure. "Um, but you know what? I- I think I should probably- go unpack now. Han can you come help me please?"

Han didn't say anything and he pushed himself off the kitchen counter again and walked round to Sofia who then walked quickly out of the dining room, head down. She heard Han follow behind her.

She had no idea what was going on but all she knew was that she was happy to be out of there, even if she was met with confused looks from her mom.

She didn't know why Jyn was confused, she was the one acting all buddy-buddy with a stranger.

When she was out of sight of the dining room and about to walk up the stairs, she heard the man speak in a hushed voice to Jyn.

"You haven't told her yet, have you?"

"No." She heard her mom reply with some hesitation.

 _Tell me what?_

Then it hit Sofia like a ton of bricks and she felt like her whole world came crashing down.

It was so clear now that she thought about it: the fact that he came waltzing in to the objection of no one, not even Han. And then how he put his hand on Jyn's shoulder and she didn't even do anything, she just let him. The smiles, how close they were.

They were _together_.

Her mom had a boyfriend. She was in a relationship.

That's what Han was referencing in the car, when he said that 'nothing big had happened' while she was gone. Well, clearly something big had been going on. Why didn't her mom tell her she was seeing someone? How long had this been going on for?

And more importantly, why didn't Emma tell her?


	9. Introductions and Interrogations

Sofia trudged up the stairs, Han following behind her.

She didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to feel. All she could think about was how upset she was.

Why didn't Emma tell her? Why would her own sister keep something like this from her? Sofia couldn't help but think that Emma did this on purpose, that she didn't tell her just so she would agree to switch places. But would Emma really send Sofia back to London with the false hope that there was a chance of getting their parents back together? Sofia didn't know; she was confused and frustrated and the fact she didn't know where she was going wasn't helping her either.

Emma had said her room was in the attic of the house and when Sofia got to the top of the stairs she paused for a moment, looking around for another staircase but there wasn't one. They had learnt the layout of each other's houses, but Sofia couldn't seem to remember how to get to her sister's room.

Eventually, she looked to her right and was met with a door. She reached out to open it and another set of stairs was on the inside.

 _Lucky guess._

Ignoring the look of confusion from Han, Sofia started walking up to the attic room. She reached the top of the staircase and was in Emma's room.

Silently, she put her luggage on the bed and opened it to start unpacking. Han did the same; he too was silent.

Finally, Han spoke up through the quietness that had settled between the two.

"Are you okay?" He asked, referencing to what happened downstairs.

Sofia nodded. "I'm fine. I just- that's not what I was expecting that's all." And she put more clothes on the bed.

Han gave her an inward smile. "I know, kid."

Another Silence.

Sofia then let out a loud sigh. "Why didn't she tell me?" She said, looking up in Han's direction, chucking a folded-up shirt down in front of her. "Why did she keep it from me that she was seeing someone?" At this point Sofia couldn't figure out if she was talking about her mom or Emma.

Han shrugged helplessly. "Em, I don't know. She was probably scared about how you would react," He answered, obviously referencing Jyn and Sofia furrowed her brows, looking back down at the bed.

Han then quieted his voice. "But, if it's any constellation, your mom, she's seems happy and from what I've seen he's a nice guy."

Sofia glanced back up and narrowed her eyes at Han. "Yet you don't like him." She said, and she was met with an incredulous look from Han who held up his hand to accentuate his point.

He let out some nervous laughter. "Okay, I- I never said that I don't-"

"Han, I could practically _hear_ you roll your eyes when he walked into the room."

Han stopped talking for a moment, looking at Sofia in a way that almost made her laugh. He then sucked his teeth and lowered his hand. "Alright, so he might not be my- favourite person ever but it doesn't matter what I think. It's about what your mom thinks."

Sofia let out another sigh. "Can you at least tell me who he is?" She asked.

"Oh no, that is a conversation you need to have with her, not me."

"Please Han," Sofia begged. "It's the least you can do."

Han looked in Sofia's direction, visibly thinking it over in his head. After a pause he breathed out.

"Okay," He said quietly. "Okay. His name is Scott Dorsett. He's a journalist. The university hired him to write an article on your mother's department. Five months ago." He said the last part under his breath, but Sofia still heard him.

Her eyes widened at this.

 _Five months?!_

So, Emma kept it from her on purpose. There was no way she hadn't known that this was going on if they had been together for five whole months.

Han didn't seem to realise Sofia's look of hurt and he carried on talking, taking more clothes out of the duffel bag.

"See, your mom says it's supposed to be a long-haul article, that he wants to capture "the real meaning behind it all"," Sofia could hear the disgust in Han's voice; she guessed he was quoting Scott himself. "But if you ask me, he seems to be doing a better job talking about himself than the tech."

She scrunched up her brow at that comment. "What do you mean by that?"

Han was about to talk when they both heard a shout come from the bottom of the stairs. It was Jyn.

"Emma! When you're done unpacking do you mind coming out in the garden?"

"Yeah mum, I'll be down in a minute!" Sofia shouted back, not even looking in the direction of the staircase.

She heard the door at the bottom of the stairs close and then she walked past Han to a circular window that overlooked the back of the house.

She saw Scott sitting at a garden table, a glass of wine in his hand. Sofia's face became stormy at the sight. Han looked over to Sofia with a knowing look and he continued talking, carrying on from where he left off.

"Okay, look, as much as I love her, you and I both know that your mom isn't exactly the most open type. So, I'm thinkin' what exactly does a young guy like that see in a woman who thinks that holding hands is emotionally draining? And then I realise that there's about a thousand reasons why he's been sticking around, and they're all sitting in a bank account in central London."

Sofia turned back to look at Han, the stormy look remaining on her face. She wasn't exactly rich, but Emma had told her that their mom's job was not a low paying one. If what Han said was true that meant that Scott was only after her mom's money. _Asshole._

"So, you don't even think he really likes her?" Sofia asked.

Han shrugged. "Eh, what do I know? I have about as much experience in relationships as she does. But I'll tell you one thing: _somehow_ this guy has your mom eating out of the palm of his hand. They do everything together, they eat together, take walks in the park together, they go out every night,"

At this point, Sofia saw a movement in the corner of her eye and she looked back out of the window.

Her mom had made her way out into the garden and walked over to Scott who held out his hand to her, pulling her in to kiss her.

Sofia grimaced at the sight and rolled her eyes.

Han held up his hands. "You know what? See what he's like for yourself. Don't let me try to influence you."

Sofia didn't need influencing from anyone; she'd already made up her mind about Scott.

From the way Han talked about him and the things he said she gathered that he was not a likeable person. Pretentious was a word that definitely came to mind.

She had a feeling she was not going to enjoy talking to him when she got outside.

* * *

"There she is!"

Jyn stood up from her chair as she saw Sofia walk out of the house.

Sofia smiled at the sight of her mom and walked over to her to give her a quick hug. Her smile quickly fell away though as her eyes set on Scott who was still sitting at the garden table.

Jyn guided Sofia to face him and she put her hands on her shoulders. "Em, I want you to properly meet a very close friend of mine, Scott Dorsett."

 _Seems like more than a "close friend"._ Sofia thought bitterly but obviously she didn't say this out loud.

Scott looked over in Sofia's direction and he put his glass of wine down on the table. He didn't even stand up to greet her, but he did hold out his hand towards Sofia. She gave him an inward smile as she reluctantly took it.

Scott gave the same beaming grin he gave when Sofia first saw him; it almost made her feel sick to her stomach.

"Emma, I am so glad to finally meet you officially!" He grinned, shaking her hand.

Sofia quickly jerked her hand back after shaking for a few seconds; she wanted to make it clear that she was not keen on getting to know him. She didn't reply and instead gave him an unenthusiastic nod.

Her mom didn't seem to pick up on her slight hostility as a small silence fell between the three of them.

"Right! Well how about I go and get another bottle of wine and while I'm gone maybe you two can find something to talk about?" Jyn said cheerfully and she turned around to go back in the house.

Scott took another swig of his wine and Sofia just looked at him. She then took the empty seat that sat across from him, still looking and not saying anything. She seized him up, eyes searching for any little detail about him. He wore a tailored suit and he seemed to take good care of his appearance; Sofia could smell his aftershave even from where she was sitting. Her nose wrinkled at the unpleasantly strong scent.

"So, Emma," Scott spoke up turning to face Sofia. "You glad to be home?"

"You and my mum," Sofia started, completely ignoring Scott's question. "You're friends?"

Scott seemed slightly taken aback by Sofia's forward nature, but he answered anyway. "Yeah. Yeah we're friends."

"Are you together?" Sofia asked right away. She was tired of not getting straight answers, so she cut right to the chase. The shocked look on Scott's face was amusing enough.

He sort of laughed nervously, almost choking on his drink. "W-what?"

"Are you and my mum together?" Sofia asked again in a slightly condescending way. She didn't care if he thought she was being rude, in fact it would help her very much if he did.

Scott shuffled uncomfortably in his seat as he leaned over to put his glass back on the table. The whole time he avoided eye contact with Sofia as he placed his hands in his lap. He gulped loudly.

"Um, I think that's a conversation you should have with-"

Sofia sighed loudly. "It's a simple yes or no answer Scott, are you with her or not?"

She knew that he wasn't expecting her to be as direct as she was, but she also knew that she wasn't going to pretend to be a simple young girl who was easy to fool. Sofia wasn't stupid, and she had no intention to come across that way either.

Scott gave Sofia a thoughtful look, clearly analysing her and her intentions before finally speaking.

"Yes," He said after a long pause, dropping the whole nervous attitude. "Yes, I am."

Sofia's heart almost sunk into her stomach. She knew what the answer to her question was but actually hearing her suspicions be confirmed hurt; but she didn't let Scott see her disappointment.

Instead she calmly leaned back in her chair, legs crossed, and eyes slightly narrowed.

"Hmm." Sofia mumbled.

Scott looked amused at this and a slight smile appeared on his face. "Why? Is that a problem?" He asked.

"I don't know," Sofia shrugged. "Haven't decided yet."

He outright laughed at this as Sofia remained emotionless. "Wow, you're cautious, aren't you?" He leaned forward slightly, hands remaining in his lap.

"Only when I have to be."

She was surprised at how quick he was to drop his little "uncomfortable" act when he realised that he was going to have a hard time pulling the wool over her eyes.

Sofia guessed that Scott's true intentions had something to do with her mom's well-paying job and she was not about to let him get away with whatever it is he was planning. Sofia had to stick to the plan no matter what and if that meant getting rid of him then so be it. It was almost as if Scott sensed Sofia's thoughts and he straightened himself out in an attempt to become more intimidating.

At this point, the smile on Scott's face faded and he broke eye contact with Sofia to let out a loud sigh. He leaned in slightly and adopted a more serious look.

"Look, you think I don't get it, but I do," He started, looking at her with an empathetic look which made Sofia scrunch her face up slightly in confusion. "I know, it's weird. You're gone for a few weeks, you come back and suddenly you're no longer in the centre of mummy's life."

"She's my mum, not my mummy. I'm not a child." Sofia replied with a hint of annoyance.

"Ah, of course," Scott said, closing his eyes, tilting his head slightly. He then looked back at Sofia. "But Emma, seriously, I just want you to know that even though me and your mother are seeing each other, there's still room for you in our life."

Sofia felt like she could've hit him then and there as her eyes widened slightly and she screwed up her lips.

"And I want to try and include you as much as we possibly can so, if you're up for it, I want to be friends. What do you say?"

Sofia didn't know what to say, the only thing she did know is how much she despised Scott in that moment. She didn't know it was possible to hate someone so much so fast but here she was. The very look on his face made Sofia hate him even more; how could her mom be with someone like this? Surely, he didn't act this way in front of Jyn, Sofia knew she was too smart to stay with someone like Scott. How did they even get together in the first place?

All these questions that needed answering; it made Sofia's brain hurt. And then she saw that Scott was still waiting for a reply.

"Emma?" He said, bringing her back to reality.

Sofia only started at him.

"No." She replied.

"No?" Scott scoffed and with that Sofia got up from her seat.

"No." She repeated with anger and she started to walk back to the house in a cloud of fury.

She even walked past Jyn who had just started to make her way back outside. She stopped when she saw her daughter storm past her.

"Wha-? Emma, where are you going?" Jyn called after her and Sofia had to fight the urge to turn around and reply. She had to be strong, she had to make it clear that she wasn't okay with this situation.

After Sofia disappeared into the house Jyn turned back to Scott with a "what happened?" kind of look, but he only raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

Jyn furrowed her brows and went to go after her but Scott, who had got up out of his seat, took her hand to stop her.

"Leave it, Jyn. I imagine she just needs some time to cool off. Now, come, sit down." And he began to guide her to the table.

Jyn pursed her lips but thought best to agree with Scott. It was all a big adjustment after all, so she let it go, letting her daughter stay inside.

Meanwhile, Sofia went up to Emma's room and put her head in her hands. She felt like crying then and there, she felt so hopeless, but she managed to hold it all in.

She had to do something, anything to get rid of Scott but she didn't know how. He'd obviously already made himself at home and her mom seemed to think nothing was wrong at all.

Sofia couldn't understand what Jyn saw in him, she'd only spent not even twenty-minuets in Scott's presence and she was already repulsed by him. She had to get rid of him but first she knew she had to talk to Emma.

Sofia had a little bone to pick with her sister.

* * *

All the while this had been going on, 3000 miles away, Emma was having a much different experience to her sister.

Having got to her dad's house around midday, Emma had settled in almost immediately. She already loved Leia and there were no words to describe how amazing it was to finally be with her dad.

She often found her mind wondering to Sofia and her mum; she wondered if everything was going okay over there. Her and Sofia agreed that it was too risky to text, but Emma had sent her a quick message just to let her know that she'd landed safely. Sofia hadn't opened it yet, so she just assumed that things were okay on her end.

Emma herself was having a great time so far and it was made even better when her dad suggested that they go out to Santa Monica Pier after they'd eaten lunch. Cassian had been worried that she wouldn't be up for it because she'd just got back but Emma had very enthusiastically said yes. She had to basically stop herself from jumping out of her seat with excitement because obviously Sofia had been there before, but Emma hadn't, and she couldn't wait.

On the way there, Emma sat in the front of the car with Cassian and Leia sat in the back. It was about an hour's drive, but Emma didn't care, she just enjoyed sitting and watching the landscapes go by.

When they finally got there, Emma's eyes widened at the sight.

The sandy beaches on both sides of the pier were filled. People merged with the water and the sound of the ocean was calm. The actual pier itself was also filled with crowds but the atmosphere was light and almost magical.

Emma's eyes continued to move over the sight and she spotted a fairground right on the pier, including a small rollercoaster and a ferris wheel.

She had been so mesmerised by the site that she didn't realise that Cassian and Leia had already walked a few feet ahead of her.

"Hey! Are you going to stand there all day?" Her dad laughed, and Emma snapped out of her thoughts, running up to the pair. Cassian placed his arm around her shoulder as they walked further towards the fairground.

The whole time she was there Emma had the biggest smile on her face and after they had got their wristbands for the rides she almost ran off without Cassian and Leia. It was really hard to hold in all her excitement because she had to act like she'd already seen this before, but it was proving to be somewhat difficult.

The three of them must've been there hours; Emma couldn't even remember how many times her and her dad had gone on that rollercoaster, it was like she was a small child again. Even the smaller rides for kids she begged to go on again and again which made Leia laugh quite a bit.

The three of them also found a photo booth in the arcade and spent what some might consider a ridiculous amount of time taking photos. Emma kept insisting that they take loads as she wanted to keep all of them. There were obviously the obligatory silly pictures but there were also some that were just 'normal'.

Emma loved the ones of her and Leia but when the ones with just her and her dad came out she held them in her hands and looked at them for ages.

Emma felt like she was making up for lost time, so she jumped at the chance to spend as much time with her dad as she possibly could, living, breathing, remembering everything she felt and thought while she was there. This was something that she desperately didn't want to forget.

After the fifth time on the ferris wheel (which Emma absolutely loved) Leia had suggested that they all get something to eat so they found a place on the pier to get some food.

The sun had begun to set at this point and the warm air became a little cooler, but this didn't stop the people who were still on the pier. The lights had started to come on at this part in the evening and suddenly everything was bathed in colorful neon lights. The sky had also started to fade into stunning colors of pink and orange; it really was beautiful.

Leis had gone up to wait in the queue to order the food whilst Emma and Cassian sat at a little table overlooking the ocean.

Emma, at this point, had started to feel a little sleepy due to the long day she'd had so she hadn't said much to her dad. She was just honestly so happy to be with him; it felt like she was in this constant loop of happiness. A small content smile appeared on Emma's face as she pulled her hoodie closer around her chest.

Emma had then happened to glance to her right for a second when her sight became fixated as she saw a young child toddle down the pier. She chuckled quietly to herself as she watched the blonde-haired boy determinedly run across the wooden flooring.

Then all of a sudden, another figure came into view. Emma watched as a young woman who also had blonde hair, presumably his mother, came jogging after him. She caught up to him and then swept him up into her arms, a huge squeal of delight escaping the boy's mouth as his mum carried him away laughing and smiling.

Emma herself let out a small laugh as she watched the pair walk off. And that's when she thought about her own mum…

Her eyes glanced at the floor for a few seconds before flicking back up to her dad, who sat looking out at the horizon.

 _You're finding out how mum and dad met._

"Dad?" Emma spoke up.

Cassian turned to face his daughter. "Hm?"

She smiled at him. "I'm really glad I'm here."

"Me too," He grinned back. "It's great to finally spend some time with you after not seeing you for so long."

Emma leaned forward to rest her arms on the table. "Yeah, it is. I- I mean it's not that I didn't enjoy camp, I did," She corrected herself. "And hey, I managed to make some friends while I was there."

"That's great! See, I told you would."

There was a short pause as Cassian's eye contact moved away from Emma but once she carried on speaking he turned his attention back to her.

"You know, we would always talk about home and our families," Cassian nodded as he listened. "And hearing everyone talk about their home life, it got me thinking about ours and our family." Emma's eyes sight shifted to her arms as she spoke in a lower tone of voice. "And about the 'M-word'."

Cassian's eyes narrowed at this and he tilted his slightly. "The 'M-word'?" He questioned.

Emma looked back up at her dad. "My mom." She said bluntly.

Her dad's eyes suddenly widened at the very thought of Emma's mom, and he became somewhat flustered. He leaned back in his chair and after a few seconds of fidgeting and figuring out where he should put his hands, he decided on placing them under the table. He cleared his throat and then spoke.

"Oh. That- 'M-word'." Cassian then pursed his lips whilst Emma looked at him expectedly.

"Well?" She spoke up, obviously wanting to further the conversation.

When Emma persisted, Cassian became even more puzzled; the questioning look only grew larger.

"Well?" He repeated back to her. "Sofe, I don't understand. Why do you want to talk about that- now?"

Emma sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Probably because we _never_ talk about her. I mean, Dad, c'mon, I'm nearly sixteen, you can't get exactly mad at me for wondering."

"Okay. But, I just thought that we'd- already talked about this." Cassian replied.

"Dad, half of a torn-up photograph isn't "talking about it". I mean, I don't even know how you met her."

Cassian looked at his daughter for a while whilst he thought it over in his head. This was secretly something he was hoping he'd never have to talk about, not for another couple of years at least. However, he figured that if she bought it up now she wasn't going to let it go so easily, he knew she would keep bringing it up which is something that he'd prefer not to happen. So, he mulled it over before deciding to part with some details about how he met Sofia's mom.

"Alright, alright," He started, and this immediately grabbed Emma's attention. Cassian paused for a few seconds longer. "We met while we were at university. I was on an international study program from Mexico."

Emma's heart was beating insanely fast. She couldn't quite believe that she was hearing this, but she tried to act more casual about it, so he didn't get suspicious.

"Oh, university? So, you met her here in the states?" She asked.

Cassian shook his head. "No, no. The program was to study in England; I met her in London. She was British, you know?" He said.

"Really? No kidding." Emma faked surprise.

"Yeah. So, I'd been living in London for about a week and I still didn't know my around. Then one day I got lost so I wandered into this coffee shop looking for directions and your mother was there, working as a waitress."

Emma had been told by Jyn that she had worked in a coffee shop to help pay her way when she was a student, but she never knew that that's how she met Cassian. Emma, completely engrossed by what she was hearing, carried on listening.

"She made sure I got where I was going, and we ended up exchanging numbers. We later found out that we were studying at the same university and it just kind of went on from there."

So that's how they met? It was kind of a cute story now that Emma thought about it and she almost cursed herself for not hearing it sooner; it sounded exactly like the kind of thing she would've loved to have heard when she was younger. She couldn't wait to tell Sofia what their dad had told her.

Another pause filled the air and it became apparent that Cassian was finished talking but Emma wasn't finished. If she was going to get her dad thinking about her mum again she had to try and get him to reveal more about her.

"Was she nice?" She spoke up through the silence.

This question really got Cassian thinking.

 _Was she nice?_

God, he hadn't thought of Jyn in so long; just telling his daughter about how he met her was almost too hard to even do and for a split second he didn't even know if he could answer that question.

But then his mind wondered, and he caught himself thinking about more than the time they first met. Images of a smile, her smile, and those bright green eyes flashed in his mind and he found himself smiling slightly at the thought. It was like he was only remembering now how beautiful she really was...

"Yeah," He said, answering Emma's question. "She was lovely. Really lovely." Cassian said the last part more quietly, but Emma still heard him.

She only looked at her father; he was looking at his lap with a slight smile on his face. It was almost sad as if it hurt him to think about Jyn, but Emma could see that there was more to it than that. There was a hint of happiness in his smile too, and Emma could sense that she'd got him thinking about more than the first time they met.

Which is exactly what she wanted him to do.

"Then what happened?" Emma said loudly, breaking Cassian out of his deep thoughts. "I mean that can't be the end of the story, right?"

Cassian was about to reply when Leia came over with a tray full of food.

"Hey, you two, quite yapping or else your food will get cold." She laughed, and she sat down on the third seat as she placed the tray on the table.

"I don't know about you, but I am starving." She said.

Emma, who couldn't really get annoyed at Leia for interrupting, only grinned at her.

"Me too." She said, and she picked up her order of burger and fries.

Cassian had gone silent this point and Emma knew he felt glad that he didn't have to talk about Jyn anymore. If she was going to get more answers she'd have to leave it for a while, leave him with the thoughts that she'd bought to the surface. Eventually she'd get more out of him but not tonight.

Satisfied with what he told her, she popped a fry in her mouth, excited for when she could finally tell Sofia what she'd found out.


End file.
